A Christian man in the U.K. has been convicted for silently praying just inside what had been dubbed a “buffer zone” at an abortion clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022.
Adam Smith-Connor, a British military veteran and a father of two, was sentenced Wednesday to a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 ($11,500) in costs, BBC reported.
It should be noted the 51-year-old Southhampton man has denied failing to comply with the “buffer zone,” although District Judge Orla Austin said the Christian man’s actions were “deliberate.”
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom UK, the legal firm representing Smith-Connor, their client spent roughly three minutes praying silently outside the abortion clinic before a local council officer approached him and inquired about “the nature of his prayers.”
He told them he had previously paid for an abortion for his ex-girlfriend and that he was there to pray for about his deceased son, Jacob.
“I was a bit taken aback by that,” Smith-Connor told CBN News about a year ago, referring to the line of questioning from the officers, noting they told him he “was breaching” the public space protection order (PSPO). “They informed me that they considered my praying for my deceased son was a breach of the PSPO, that it was an act of disapproval of abortion, although I wasn’t manifesting that prayer in any way and, if I hadn’t told them, they would have no way of knowing what I was praying about.”
About a month later, the Christian man received a fine. After that, legal proceedings were brought against Smith-Conor by the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
In response to the court’s verdict Wednesday, Smith-Connor said:
Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts — silent thoughts — can be illegal in the United Kingdom. That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind — and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?
I served for 20 years in the Army Reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon. I continue that spirit of service as a healthcare professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thoughtcrimes are now being prosecuted in the U.K.
ADF UK Legal Counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole called the ruling a “turning point of immense proportions.”
“A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts — his prayers to God — on the public streets of England,” he said. “We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought. We will look closely at the judgment and will consider an appeal. Human rights are for all people — no matter their view on abortion.”
Former Conservative MP Miriam Cates condemned the use of public funds to go after Smith-Connor.
“This isn’t 1984, but 2024,” she said. “Nobody should be on trial for the mere thoughts they hold in their mind. It’s outrageous that the local council are pouring taxpayer funding into prosecuting a thoughtcrime, at a time where resources are stretched thin.”
She added, “Buffer zone regulations are disproportionately wide, leaving innocent people vulnerable to prosecution merely for offering help, or simply holding their own beliefs.”
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