In its ruling, the court argued that his prayer amounted to a ‘disapproval of abortion’ because, at one point, his head was seen to be slightly inclined and his hands were intertwined.
Newsroom (30/10/2024 22:00, Gaudium Press) Following the news that Scotland has banned praying aloud if it disturbs an abortion clinic, bad news continues to arrive for the pro-life cause in the UK. In 2022, Adam Smith-Connor, a Christian and British army veteran, was found guilty of praying silently outside an abortion centre in Bournemouth, located on the south coast of England, UK.
Bournemouth Magistrates‘ Court sentenced him to conditional discharge, which implies that Smith-Connor “will only be sentenced if he is convicted of any future offences within the next two years”, and ordered him to pay court costs of £9,000 (more than R$66,000), reported ADF International (a conservative legal defense group called Alliance Defending Freedom).
Smith-Connor’s intention when he approached the British Pregnancy Advisory Service abortion centre in Bournemouth in 2022 was to pray for his son who died in an abortion he participated in at a similar centre two decades ago. According to his lawyer, ‘Smith-Connor did not express his prayer in any visible way, whether by kneeling, speaking or holding up any symbol. He went to great lengths to distance himself from the abortion clinic, positioning himself behind a tree, facing away from the clinic and avoiding any interaction with other people.’
In its ruling, the court found that Smith-Connor’s demonstration in front of the abortion centre constituted ‘disapproval of abortion’ because, ‘at one point, his head was seen to be slightly tilted and his hands interlocked,’ ADF International said in a press release last Wednesday.
‘Today, the court ruled that certain thoughts – silent thoughts – can be illegal in the UK. That cannot be right,’ said Smith-Connor. ‘All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind – and yet I was convicted as a criminal? I served for twenty years in the army reserve, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms on which this country was built. I continue in that spirit of service as a health professional and church volunteer. It worries me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the point where thought crimes are now prosecuted in the UK.’
Jeremiah Igunnubole, ADF UK’s lawyer, emphasized that this is a legal progression of immense proportions. ‘Today, a man has been convicted because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – in the public streets of England. We can hardly fall lower in our neglect of the basic fundamental freedoms of expression and thought. We will be closely scrutinizing the sentence and are considering options to appeal. Human rights are for all people – regardless of their views on abortion.’
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
