Latest news with #Smith-Connor
Telegraph
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The pro-lifer whose protest in Bournemouth triggered free speech row with Trump
When a 64-year-old pro-life campaigner stood outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth holding a sign saying 'Here to talk if you want to', she hardly imagined her silent protest would inflame a global free speech row that threatens to jeopardise Britain's so-called special relationship with the US. Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist, was charged with a public order offence for allegedly breaching a protected buffer zone outside the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) facility on two consecutive days in March 2023. Now, days before she is expected to receive a verdict on Friday, she has found herself the subject of an extraordinary intervention by US government officials after a state department bureau announced on Sunday that it was 'monitoring' her case. In a statement issued on X, the US bureau of democracy, human rights and labour said: 'We are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom… We are monitoring [Ms Tossici-Bolt's] case.' The move marks an escalation between Donald Trump 's administration and British politicians over the UK's commitment to free expression. In recent months, the row has increasingly focused on the right to protest outside abortion clinics. 'Buffer zone' legislation in the UK that bans protest outside clinics has been backed by all major political parties. But in America, where 12 states now prohibit abortion in almost all circumstances, the issue is much more divisive. In February, JD Vance, the US vice-president, used his speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticise British authorities' prosecution of another activist, Adam Smith-Connor, 51, for a similar protest outside the same Bournemouth clinic in 2022. Mr Vance said the case of the British Army Reserves veteran showed that the 'basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular' were under threat. Mr Smith-Connor denied committing an offence, but in October last year a judge found his actions had been 'deliberate'. He had claimed that he had the right to silently pray for an unborn son whom he now regrets aborting and that prosecuting him amounted to 'criminalising someone's beliefs'. He was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs. Like Mr Smith-Connor, Ms Tossici-Bolt is also being prosecuted under a public spaces protection order (PSPO), legislation that restricts anti-social behaviour in a specific area. Last October, Sir Keir Starmer's government replaced these local powers with national restrictions making it a criminal offence to attempt to 'influence a person's decision to access or provide abortion services within 150 metres of a clinic' in England and Wales. The new 'safe access zones' law does not automatically ban silent prayer outside abortion clinics, but Crown Prosecution Service guidance states there is no defence on religious grounds under the statute, meaning that holding a vigil or praying, including silent prayer, could be considered a violation. Ms Tossici-Bolt, leader of the Bournemouth branch of the anti-abortion charity 40 Days of Life, has always denied the charges against her and claimed she was 'just there to offer support' to women seeking an abortion. In March, Poole magistrates' court heard that she stood outside the BPAS clinic in Bournemouth for around two hours on two consecutive days in March 2023, holding up her sign. She was approached by police and a local council official who told her that one person had felt harassed by Ms Tossici-Bolt's protest. The court heard that Ms Tossici-Bolt refused to vacate the area, despite being repeatedly asked to leave. She claims she was given no legitimate reason to leave and told magistrates that she did not 'see how someone standing there can be seen as harassment and intimidation'. 'My signs are solidarity signs. I am just there to offer support. I rejoice when a life is saved. People can say yes or no when they see me,' she said. 'I always made sure I did not come across as aggressive. I always try and do it in a loving way. I never tell people to terminate. If they decide to go ahead with the abortion then we can offer support afterwards,' she added. Ms Tossici-Bolt said she had been standing diagonally opposite the Bournemouth clinic, about 50 metres away, for just under two hours on March 2 when a police officer approached her to report that someone had complained about her presence. She said: 'I asked him how this could possibly happen. I don't see how someone standing there can be seen as harassment and intimidation. 'I don't see the problem with people seeing me. It would have been lovely if the officer had gone to the person and asked me why I was harassing them. I was being completely passive.' She added that she 'would have left if they had given me a reason but they could not provide one'. 'I was sure that I was not in breach,' she said. 'I still maintain that.' After hearing all the evidence, District Judge Orla Austin adjourned the case and will deliver her verdict on April 4.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UK man arrested for praying outside abortion clinic praises VP Vance for bringing attention to case
Vice President JD Vance left U.K. army veteran Adam Smith-Connor "incredibly surprised" after his story of being arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic became the focus of a defense of free speech and religious liberty on the international stage over the weekend. "I had no idea it was going to happen," Smith-Connor said Sunday on "Fox & Friends Weekend." "I'm a physiotherapist. I was treating a patient. I just had a few minutes' gap between patients… and [I learned] the vice president of America was talking about [my] case, so it was incredibly surprising, and I'm very grateful to him for highlighting this case." Smith-Connor was found guilty of breaching the local government's Public Spaces Protection Order in October, nearly two years after standing outside an abortion facility with his head bowed in silent prayer. Vance Warns The Us Will Use Sanctions, Military Action If Putin Doesn't Agree To Ukraine Peace Deal: Report He was ordered to pay £9,000 (approximately $11,330 USD) to his prosecutors as a result. Read On The Fox News App Vance highlighted the case as he blasted 'Soviet'-style European censorship in an address to European leaders at the Munich Security Conference last Friday. "The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs," the vice president said. "A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own." Hegseth Says He And Vance Are 'On The Same Page' Despite Vp's Remark On Us Troops In Ukraine Lois McLatchie Miller, senior legal communications officer at Alliance Defending Freedom International, informed Smith-Connor of Vance's acknowledgment through a phone call. She told "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy that ADF International is supporting his legal defense as they seek to appeal the judgment later this year. "This intervention from Vice President Vance highlighting the case really exposes that this is the worst example of censorship in the West right now. If we cannot think thoughts in our heads on certain British streets, we have no hope for freedom anywhere else."Original article source: UK man arrested for praying outside abortion clinic praises VP Vance for bringing attention to case
Fox News
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
UK man arrested for praying outside abortion clinic praises VP Vance for bringing attention to case
Vice President JD Vance left U.K. army veteran Adam Smith-Connor "incredibly surprised" after his story of being arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic became the focus of a defense of free speech and religious liberty on the international stage over the weekend. "I had no idea it was going to happen," Smith-Connor said Sunday on "Fox & Friends Weekend." "I'm a physiotherapist. I was treating a patient. I just had a few minutes' gap between patients… and [I learned] the vice president of America was talking about [my] case, so it was incredibly surprising, and I'm very grateful to him for highlighting this case." Smith-Connor was found guilty of breaching the local government's Public Spaces Protection Order in October, nearly two years after standing outside an abortion facility with his head bowed in silent prayer. He was ordered to pay £9,000 (approximately $11,330 USD) to his prosecutors as a result. Vance highlighted the case as he blasted 'Soviet'-style European censorship in an address to European leaders at the Munich Security Conference last Friday. "The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs," the vice president said. "A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own." Lois McLatchie Miller, senior legal communications officer at Alliance Defending Freedom International, informed Smith-Connor of Vance's acknowledgment through a phone call. She told "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy that ADF International is supporting his legal defense as they seek to appeal the judgment later this year. "This intervention from Vice President Vance highlighting the case really exposes that this is the worst example of censorship in the West right now. If we cannot think thoughts in our heads on certain British streets, we have no hope for freedom anywhere else."
The Guardian
15-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
JD Vance decried as extremist over attack on UK abortion clinic safe zones
JD Vance has been labelled an 'extremist' after he launched a broadside against the UK's efforts to protect women seeking an abortion. The US vice-president's criticisms of UK and Scottish policies on safe access zones around abortion clinics -part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe on Friday - were derided as inaccurate and misogynistic by a number of groups, politicians and governments. Heidi Stewart, the chief executive of Bpas, the UK's leading provider of abortion services, said safe zones - buffer areas of 150 metres around abortion clinics designed to stop women being harassed with leaflets, shown pictures of foetuses, or having to pass by vigils - were vital to protect women's access to essential healthcare in an 'overwhelmingly pro-choice country'. 'Bpas ... will always remain proud to stand against misogynistic and anti-democratic interference with British women's reproductive rights by foreign extremists, whether they are the vice-president of the US or not,' she said. The Labour MP Stella Creasy, who campaigned for the safe zones which were introduced last year, posted a picture of a scene from the dystopian television series The Handmaid's Tale alongside with the words: 'And so it begins … ' She accused Vance of calling 'for the right to harass women having an abortion' because 'our bodies are their battleground, our human rights their target'. In Vance's speech at the Munich security conference, he said the UK had 'placed the basic liberties of religious Britons ... in the crosshairs', citing the prosecution of Adam Smith-Connor, a physiotherapist and army veteran. Vance said he had been charged with the 'heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own'. Smith-Connor, who is receiving legal support from Alliance Defending Freedom International, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group in the US - was convicted of breaching a safe zone in October last year after refusing repeated requests to move away from outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022. A community officer spoke to him for an hour and 40 minutes and asked him to leave, but he refused. Smith-Connor was handed a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 costs after the case brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council. Vance also claimed the Scottish government had distributed letters to citizens whose houses lay 'within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law'. Shortly after his statement, a Scottish government spokesperson said: 'The vice-president's claim is incorrect. Private prayer at home is not prohibited within safe access zones and no letter has ever suggested it was.' The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) act, introduced last year, banned 'silent prayer' to prevent mass silent vigils which have been used by large groups of US pro-life protesters such as 40 Days for Life. The law states that the actions are only banned if they are likely to cause alarm or distress to someone accessing abortion services. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay, who pushed for the introduction of safe zones, said Vance was spreading 'shocking and shameless misinformation'. She said: 'He is one of the most powerful people in the world but he is peddling total nonsense and dangerous scaremongering.' The managing director for the Abortion Support Network, Camille Kumar, accused him of 'dog-whistle messaging' an an attack on 'fragile' women's rights. 'It is deeply concerning that within days of pardoning [protesters] in the US for their harassment of women and pregnant people outside abortion clinics, JD Vance is now trying to stir up anti-abortion rhetoric in the UK.' The director of the End Violence, Andrea Simon, said: 'Safe access buffer zones were introduced to ensure that women can safely access abortion services without fear of harassment. That is vital, because abortion is a fundamental healthcare right for women in the UK, which must be protected.'
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US vice president launches attack on BCP Council, government and courts
VICE president of the United States has criticised BCP Council, the government and the courts for prosecuting a man who breached an order outside an abortion clinic. JD Vance claimed the 'basic liberties of religious Britons' are under threat as he launched an attack on European democracy. He referred to the conviction of Adam Smith-Connor, 51, who had denied doing so but was found guilty last year of failing to comply with a public space protection order at the centre in Bournemouth in November 2022. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Mr Vance that the US' 'very dear friends the United Kingdom' appeared to have seen a 'backslide in conscience rights.' 'A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own,' he said. 'After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied simply it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before. 'Now, the officers were not moved – Adam was found guilty of (breaking) the Government's new buffer zones law, which criminalises silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 metres of abortion facility. 'He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution… in Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.' In England, where the incident involving Smith-Connor took place, buffer zones apply within 150 metres of an abortion clinic. In Scotland, the zones apply within 200 metres. The case also preceded the enforcement of the Public Order Act 2023, which introduced the new rules on safe access zones outside all abortion clinics following a free vote in Parliament that received cross-party support. Smith-Connor had instead been charged with breaching a public space protection order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which banned activity including protests, harassment and vigils. Proponents of safe access zones say women using a clinic can feel intimidated and distressed by the presence of someone standing in the area praying, even if they are not speaking. Critics argue the rule undermines the right to freedom of religion and free speech. Smith-Connor was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 in court costs and victim surcharge after the legal proceedings brought by BCP Council.
