Pro-life campaigners vow to proceed protesting regardless of new protected zones exterior abortion clinics – and declare ‘thought is being policed’ amid warnings individuals silently praying may very well be arrested

Pro-life campaigners have claimed that new buffer zones around abortion clinics amount to policing thought, amid warnings people may be arrested for silently praying. 

Clare McCullogh has staged vigils outside reproductive clinics across London since 1995 and insists her work with the Good Counsel Network is not intimidating.

Speaking to MailOnline on Thursday following new laws which ban activists from going within 150 metres of abortion clinics, she said she will continue to hold vigils outside cordons but other activists may be willing to break the law.

‘For the moment we will hold the vigils further away but it’s not a just law,’ she said. ‘I think people may break the law, I can see vigils will break the law because it is an unjust law, it is kind of a ridiculous law to implement.’

Under the new measures, it will now be illegal to influence, harass or provoke those using or delivering abortion services within a 150-metre radius of the abortion provider.

Those who break the new rules can be hit with an unlimited fine.

Pro-choice campaigners called for a total ban on silent prayer within the zones, saying a woman using a clinic can feel intimidated by the presence of someone standing in the area praying, even if they are not speaking.

It has now emerged that these instances will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

The Good Counsel Network have created a poster ridiculing the idea of thoughts and prayers being monitored, warning against breaking the buffer zone by ‘caring about people’.

It comes after a former serviceman who silently prayed for his unborn son outside an abortion clinic was been convicted earlier this month of breaching the safe zone around the centre.

Adam Smith-Connor had his head bowed and hands clasped as he prayed for his son Jacob, whom he said died from abortion 22 years ago, outside the centre in Bournemouth, Dorset, on November 24 2022.

The safe zone around the British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in Ophir Road was introduced in October 2022 and banned activity including protests, harassment and vigils either in favour or or against abortion services.

Smith-Connor denied the offence of failing to comply with the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) during a trial at Poole Magistrates’ Court, but was found guilty by District Judge Orla Austin who said that what he did was ‘deliberate’.

Jess Phillips, the Home Office minister responsible for safeguarding, said: ‘The idea that any woman is made to feel unsafe or harassed for accessing health services, including abortion clinics is sickening. This stops today.’ 

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: ‘I’m confident that the safeguards we have put in place today will have a genuine impact in helping women feel safer and empowered to access the vital services they need.’ 

‘There is only one person that stands by the gate [to abortion clinics] handing out leaflets so we do our best to make it as non-scary as possible. We try and do the most we can to make our presence as minimal as possible while still being able to offer help.

Addressing claims of intimidation by her movement, Clare added: ‘Let’s be honest, if we were talking about any other service in the world, Botox, getting a tooth out, and someone was standing by the door and offering you a leaflet, saying there is an alternative treatment available or support, nobody would be saying it is intimidating.

‘Abortion touches on a woman’s conscience. The fact they are losing a child. That is why it is hard to see why one peaceful person offering them a leaflet outside is not intimidating.

‘They’ve used false allegations about us calling women murderers and so on. We are not calling women murderers, blocking their path or assaulting them, but those accusations have been used to ban our real support.

‘It’s an unlimited fine, it’s just insane. You can assault people in the street and you don’t have the same fine that we will have for offering someone help.

‘The idea that all women should feel that having people outside [clinics] is a terrible thing, is rubbish.

‘You’ve been looking at pictures from American vigils. We don’t wear t-shirts with slogans on them, we have one poster at our vigil which says “we can help”. We sometimes have religious imagery.’

The Good Counsel Network operate so-called ‘vigils’ outside Marie Stopes UK abortion clinics in Ealing, Brixton and Camden five days a week. Clare mainly goes to Ealing.

Clare said her movement often get mixed reactions from staff and users of abortion clinics, adding:’Some people didn’t want our help and ignored us, some people were annoyed we were there and would shout at us, but a small number of women accepted our help.’

Asked why she continues her work despite the public perception of it, she added: ‘Because there are 1,200 women who chose life because at that last moment they felt they had no other option but abortion until they met us.

‘We give tons of help. We give £40,000 in food vouchers to women who are thinking about abortion because they have no other option.

‘Over the years that amounted to about 1,200 women who at the last minute have changed their mind and got help. Maybe we pay their rent for a year, all kinds of financial and moral support.’

Clare says her group have ‘a right to do it’ because of the number of women who have accessed their services over the years.

MPs voted in favour of nationwide buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales in October 2022 but the Home Office under the previous Tory government did not implement them.

In March 2023 MPs rejected attempts to allow silent prayer in the zones, voting down an amendment from a group of Tory and DUP MPs aimed at ensuring no offence is committed if a person is ‘engaged in consensual communication or in silent prayer’ outside the clinics or hospitals offering abortion services.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance states that a person carrying out activities within a zone such as silent prayer ‘will not necessarily commit a criminal offence’.

The Home Office listed silent prayer as being among examples of behaviour which could amount to an offence – alongside holding vigils and handing out anti-abortion leaflets.

Legislation creating buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland came into force in September, while they have been in place in Northern Ireland for a year.

MailOnline visited the MSI Reproduction Choice clinic in Brixton, South London on Thursday, which regularly saw pro-life campaigners camped outside.

There were none in attendance on Thursday, the first day of the new buffer zone laws, suggesting campaigners fear the unlimited fines which could be handed to them.

MailOnline later approached the nearby Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Brixton Hill who said they do not know if any of their parishioners take part in anti-abortion pickets.

Groups such as Right To Life and ADT have also campaigned and lobbied against abortion and for pro-life causes. Both were approached for comment.

A CPS spokesperson said: ‘The CPS will take seriously any allegations of criminality associated with protests but will balance this against the right to peaceful and lawful protests, when applying our legal test.

‘We have issued legal guidance to prosecutors to reflect this balance following on from the new legislation that has been passed on protests outside places providing abortion services.’