In a first case of its kind in Northern Ireland, this week a Roman Catholic woman faces being convicted after being arrested and told she was ‘ignorant’ for praying inside an abortion clinic ‘censorship zone’.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mrs Claire Brennan, 52, is challenging the prosecution at Coleraine Magistrates Court on Tuesday 30 July after she was arrested along with a colleague in a wheelchair, David Hall, outside of Causeway hospital in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, in October 2023.
For breaching the ‘safe access zone’ legislation by holding a sign and saying ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, Mrs Brennan faces being fined and even imprisoned for six-months if found guilty.
The arrest coincided with legislation brought in September 2023 to Northern Ireland which implemented nationwide censorship zones banning prayer and offers of help to pregnant women outside abortion clinics.
All five Health and Social Care Trusts in the province now have zones criminalising anyone who hands out pro-life literature or speaks to anyone about abortion within a 100-250m radius of an abortion clinic or hospital.
Abortion services have expanded in Northern Ireland ever since 2019 when Westminster imposed extreme and liberal abortion laws on the country.
In December 2022, the UK Supreme Court rejected the NI Attorney General’s concerns that such zones were inconsistent with the right to peaceful protest, and the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act later came into law.
Following a public outcry over buffer zone legislation introduced across the UK following arrests for peaceful praying, the government announced a consultation on the guidance for policing the zones in England and Wales in December 2023. The consultation did not cover Northern Ireland.
Announcing the consultation on behalf of the government, Lord Sharpe of Epsom said: “people are perfectly at liberty to pray wherever they wish.”
Video footage
Video footage of Mrs Brennan’s arrest, however, reveals her on her knees on a traffic island opposite the hospital praying with rosary beads and holding a sign which read: ‘Pray to End Abortion.’
There was also a banner which read ‘Ireland needs Fatima’ which had a picture of Mary on it.
The sign said: ‘Praying for the Rosary for Ireland. Please join us. As human efforts fail to solve Ireland’s key problems we turn to God, through his holy mother, asking for his help.”
Mrs Brennan had quietly said to herself and her colleague the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary 10 times, the Apostles Creed and the Divine Mercy.
The officers, however, asked Mrs Brennan to move outside of the buffer zone. In response, she said: “Officer, you have a duty to uphold the law, and I have duty to uphold God’s law. This is where we pray.” She added that: “We are not committing any offences.”
“In the eye of the law you are”, the officer said and accused them of causing ‘harassment, alarm and distress.’
Mrs Brennan responded: “The law of the land stops me from upholding the law of God… We pray for the babies who will be imminently killed in this hospital.”
Police: ‘You are ignorant for praying here’
The officer moved away to consult with senior colleagues and during this time she said the Lord’s Prayer and said:
“Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do. We pray that this hospital becomes a hospital of prayer… and that they repent of their sins.”
Another officer, who was more aggressive and visibly annoyed, also tried to persuade Mrs Brennan to move on.
Mrs Brennan said: “I have a moral duty to stay here and pray.”
The officer said: “You are being ignorant now. You are breaking the law.”
“I apologise for that,” Mrs Brennan said.
“Apology is no good”, the officer snapped, “you need to remove yourself.”
The officer later pointed and said: “Claire, you are really stubborn and ignorant, right, because you are breaking the law.”
Claire and her colleague continued to refuse to move from where they were praying. During the whole incident they had not encountered or spoken to anyone other than the police officers.
They were then arrested and were later charged without a police interview.
‘To stop praying would go against my conscience’
Ahead of the hearing, Mrs 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.
“We need urgent change to roll back what has happened in this country and to uphold God’s law not man’s law. The unborn are the most vulnerable and at risk in our society and we have forgotten our moral duty to do everything we can to protect their lives and to provide vulnerable mothers with alternatives to abortion.
“The legislation discriminates against Christian beliefs and their expression. 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 cannot go against my conscience and do nothing whilst innocent babies are aborted in this country. Praying is the most important thing I can do to help and I and everyone else must be free to do that, even outside of an abortion clinic.
I will fight for justice and will continue to pray to end abortion for as long as it takes.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “In Northern Ireland, it has been shown that laws restricting abortion saved more than 100,000 lives in the years from 1967 to 2016.
“For more than 50 years, the law in Northern Ireland only permitted abortion if it was necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The 1967 Abortion Act in England and Wales, which is widely interpreted to permit abortion on request, was not extended to NI.
“Since that law changed in March 2020, there has been a two and a half times increase in the annual number of abortions. This is a tragedy, and anyone who cares about protecting life should be especially concerned by what has happened in Northern Ireland in recent years.
“Buffer zones are an oppressive part of the current culture which force consent and silence dissent. The saddest thing of all is that we are actually talking about human lives.
“We stand with Claire as she fights for justice and believe the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 must be repealed.”
