British police reimburse woman for silent prayer arrest

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce received 13,000 pounds, the equivalent of nearly $17,000, from West Midlands Police in a payout, the Alliance Defending Freedom UK said on Monday. Police arrested her twice for silently praying within a so-called buffer zone outside an abortion facility that was legally designated to be free of all demonstrations either for or against the center. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in May identified Vaughan-Spruce’s arrests as a religious freedom concern in Europe.

What happened? Police initially arrested Vaughan-Spruce, a Christian, for silently praying in a protest-free buffer zone outside an abortion facility in Southern England in November 2022, ADF said. Weeks after a Birmingham court fully acquitted her on charges of violating the buffer zone in February 2023, police again arrested Vaughan-Spruce for once more silently praying outside an abortion facility. Silent prayer is not a crime, Vaughan-Spruce said. She added that there was no place for thought police in 21st-century Britain, an apparent reference to writer George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s report in WORLD Magazine about how German youth are showing more interest in the Bible.