A woman arrested for praying outside a hospital is being prosecuted for an alleged breach of abortion buffer zone legislation in Northern Ireland.
Claire Brennan, 52, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, is challenging the prosecution which began earlier this week at Coleraine Magistrates Court. Brennan was arrested along with a colleague in a wheelchair, David Hall, outside of Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, in October last year for an alleged violation of the abortion buffer zone law.
Brennan was praying the ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, a foundational Christian prayer, and holding a banner with an image of Mary the mother of Jesus.
Her arrest came just a month after Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023, which criminalises offers of assistance and prayer within 150m of abortion clinics or hospitals where abortions happen, came into force.
“Really stubborn and ignorant”
On the day of the arrest, police told Brennan to move outside of the buffer zone. Brennan said that she and Hall were “not committing any offences”.
“I have a moral duty to stay here and pray”, she added.
In the ensuing interaction, one of the police officers accused Brennan of being “really stubborn and ignorant, because [she was] breaking the law”.
She was subsequently arrested and charged without an interview.
If found guilty, Brennan could face a fine of up to £2,500.
Ahead of the hearing which began earlier this week, Brennan said “It is a deeply disturbing law which tells free citizens that they will be arrested if they pray”.
“The expansion of abortion services in Northern Ireland in recent years has been appalling. Our laws, beliefs and culture on upholding and protecting life in this country have been trampled on”.
“If we are not free to express prayer against abortion outside of a clinic without being criminalised, then none of us are free”.
“I believe I have done absolutely nothing wrong. If the courts find that I have and decide to convict me then we are in a very dark place indeed”.
“I will fight for justice and will continue to pray to end abortion for as long as it takes”.
How abortion buffer zones were introduced into Northern Ireland
The legislation was introduced by former Green Party MLA Clare Baileyand received Royal Assent in February 2023 in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Bailey lost her seat in the May 2022 elections in Northern Ireland.
However, in July of 2022, Dame Brenda King, Northern Ireland’s Attorney General, challenged the Bill on the grounds that it does not permit a “reasonable excuse” defence.
Counsel for the Attorney General’s office, Tony McGleenan KC, said the Bill did not provide a defence for someone who “did not know and had no reasonable way of knowing a protected person was in a safe access zone”.
Mr McGleenan argued that the current legislation breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), specifically in relation to the articles on freedom of religion and expression.
In December of the same year however, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Bill is not incompatible with the ECHR “rights of those who seek to express opposition to the provision of abortion”.
The Court granted permission to the activist group, JUSTICE, to intervene to argue that the Bill was compatible with the ECHR. However, in an unusual move, the legal advocacy group, ADF UK, which was going to argue that the Bill was incompatible with human rights legislation, was denied permission. No reason was given for this decision.
The Judgement made reference to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ submission to a 2018 Home Office review into the types of protest that take place outside abortion clinics. The submission paints activity outside abortion clinics in a very negative light, but the Judgement makes no reference to those women who have expressed gratitude that they were offered an alternative to abortion.
Alina Dulgheriu, who was herself scheduled to have an abortion but decided not to proceed with it after receiving help from pro-life volunteers outside an abortion clinic in London, has campaigned against buffer zones and previously said “The day that I turned up to my abortion appointment, a volunteer outside the clinic gave me a leaflet. It offered the help that I had been searching for. I weighed up the two options I had before me, and I chose motherhood. I chose to accept help to get housing, help to find a job and help to obtain a pram, a cot and nappies. It wasn’t easy. But with the support of the group who had given me that leaflet, I couldn’t be prouder of the life my daughter and I have charted out together”.
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “Hundreds of women have been helped outside abortion clinics by pro-life volunteers who have provided them with practical support, which made it clear to them that they had another option other than going through with the abortion. Sadly, these buffer zones deny women that option”.
