What are safe access zones and is silent prayer prohibited? – Irvine Times

Silent prayer, a controversial point, is not automatically an offence, but people doing it within the zones could be prosecuted, under the new guidelines.

Here, the PA news agency looks at what the new zones are and the opposing views on the matter.

– What is a buffer zone?

Known as “safe access zones” in the legislation, these are areas within 150 meters of a clinic or hospital providing abortion services.

Under the Public Order Act 2023, it is an offense for someone, within this area, to do anything which willfully or recklessly influences someone’s decision to use abortion services, hinders them or causes harassment, alarm or distress to someone, who uses or works on premises.

Anyone found guilty of such an offense will face an unlimited fine.

– Where does this apply?

England and Wales.

Legislation creating buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland, banning any protests or vigils there, came into force last month.

In Northern Ireland, from September 2023, there are safe access areas in healthcare facilities that offer abortion and birth control services.

– Weren’t there already buffer zones in England and Wales?

A similar measure is in place outside some clinics, but these are passed by councils rather than national legislation.

Known as public spaces protection orders (PSPOs), the first in the UK were introduced by Ealing Council in west London in April 2018, outside MSI’s Reproductive Choice Clinic in Mattock Lane.

Campaigners have long argued for the need for national legislation, arguing that PSPOs depend on the will of local councils, are time-limited, can be expensive and lead to a postcode lottery.

– As it is the Public Order Act 2023, why do the zones only come into effect from 31 October 2024?

The bill – which is broadly aimed at curbing partisan protest tactics used by groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion – received royal assent on 2 May 2023, becoming law.

But in December the then Conservative government launched a consultation on non-binding guidelines on the implementation of safe access zones.

This guidance suggests that praying in such an area “should not automatically be regarded as unlawful” and that silent prayer “is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998”.

– So silent prayer is an obstacle?

yes Pro-choice campaigners argued that the draft guidelines did not reflect the debate in Parliament.

In March 2023, MPs rejected attempts to allow silent prayer in the zones.

A group of Tory MPs and the DUP tabled an amendment aimed at ensuring that no offense would be committed if a person was “engaged in consensual communication or in silent prayer” outside clinics or hospitals offering abortion services.

They argued that this section of the bill “takes us into thought crime territory”, while one MP described it as “dystopian”.

But in a free vote the motion was defeated by 116 votes to 299 – a majority of 183.

– What happened to the leadership project under the Conservative government?

The final guidance was never published after the consultation.

Then-Home Secretary Laura Farris at a committee hearing in March dismissed the idea that the government was trying to “dilute” the legislation by allowing silent prayer, saying: “I think it’s trying to assess where the line falls between competing rights and obligations. And I think silent prayer is a difficult category in that regard.

– What is the new manual?

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has published guidance for prosecutors stating that there is no defense on religious or ethical grounds for people who want to influence, obstruct or cause harassment to others in safe access areas.

The guidance cites a 2022 High Court ruling on Safe Access Zones in Northern Ireland, where the court held that silent prayer was among the actions that “may fall within the scope of the statutory provision”.

The guidance states that “a person who carries out any of these activities in a safe access area is not necessarily committing an offence”.

He added: “Prosecutors will need to consider not only all the facts and circumstances of the particular conduct, but also the context in which the conduct took place.”

In reviewing the cases, it states that prosecutors must clearly identify “the overt act that gave rise to the crime” and evidence “from which the requisite intent or recklessness may be inferred.”

The College of Policing published what it described as a “brief” for officers on Section 9 of the Act, which deals with safe access areas.

It states: “All decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis and must be balanced and proportionate in the circumstances.”

The Home Office said the guidance would “ensure clarity and consistency in the implementation of the new offence”.

– Are the zones separated in any way?

There is no requirement in the legislation that the zones be marked.

A person suspected of a crime must not know or believe they are in a safe access area, CPS guidance states.

Local police forces are expected to work with the clinics to decide whether signs designating the zones would be useful or not.

– What do anti-abortion activists say?

Activists say the ban on silent prayer threatens their rights to freedom of expression and religious belief.

Right To Life UK said the zones would mean “vital practical support provided by volunteers outside abortion clinics, which helps ensure real choice and offers help to women who may be under coercion, will be removed”.

The UK branch of ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) said the right to engage in silent prayer was “the most fundamental of human rights” and described the introduction of buffer zones as a “watershed moment for British freedoms”.

– And what about selection groups?

Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), welcomed the zones, which she said “can’t come soon enough” after years of patients and staff at clinics facing “anti-abortion fanatics who stand in front of clinics for hours “staring, handing out leaflets and displaying “graphic and disturbing posters”.

Louise McCudden of MSI Reproductive Choices said the new zones would protect women and frontline health workers, adding: “Whatever your personal views on abortion, no one should be harassed while accessing healthcare.”

– Has anyone been prosecuted for trespassing in non-clinic areas where there is a PSPO?

yes In October ex-serviceman Adam Smith-Connor was convicted of breaching the safety zone around an abortion clinic in Bournemouth.

Poole Magistrates’ Court heard that he stood near a tree, with his head bowed and his arms folded, as he prayed silently, partly with a view to the clinic, and refused to leave the area when asked to do so by a community officer , who spoke with him for an hour and 40 minutes.

He denied breaching the PSPO but was found guilty, with a judge saying what he had done was “deliberate”.

Smith-Connor was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 in court costs and victim surcharges following legal proceedings brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

ADF UK said it was backing Smith-Connor to appeal his sentence.

In February 2023, a Catholic priest accused the government of “censoring the streets of the UK” and trying to criminalize silent prayer after he was acquitted of allegedly intimidating service users near an abortion clinic.

PSPO charges against Father Sean Gough and charity volunteer Isabelle Vaughan-Spruce were withdrawn at a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court.

Fr Gough and Ms Vaughn-Spruce criticized the decision to face charges of “silent prayer” and “free speech prayer”, saying they had been “put on trial for praying in an abortion censored zone”. .