‘Safe access zones’ for abortion are anything but safe

Christian Concern’s chief executive Andrea Williams explains how the introduction of ‘safe access zones’ around abortion clinics is banning prayer and means women will be deprived of crucial help at a time when they need it the most

As of today, censorship zones around all abortion centres in the UK are beginning to be enforced.

Even peaceful, silent prayer is now targeted and punished. Draft guidance under the previous Conservative government said:

“Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances.”

The new Labour administration has ignored this guidance and is expecting police to enforce the ‘buffer zone’ law on Christians who are thought to be praying.

Under the law of the United Kingdom (and the European Court of Human Rights), we’re seeing a government clampdown on prayer  in these areas. It may take long, drawn-out legal battles to know whether Labour’s implementation of the law is compatible with the Human Rights Act.

In a normal world (a free world), Christians would be perfectly within their rights in UK law to pray near abortion centres. But this has already been tested, and is still being tested, in our courts. Currently, things are looking rough – most courts treat ‘human rights’ to freedom of religion and free speech more like suggestions.

Furthermore, because Christians are typically very conscientious, peaceful people, very few are willing to make a fuss even when told there are now zones in the UK which ban prayer.

However, there is another law above UK law. It is the law of the God who made and, even today, rules the universe. For him, there are no ‘no-prayer zones’. He is everywhere. Scripture calls Christians to ‘pray continually’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and if they happen to walk by an abortion centre, or a hospital where abortions are conducted, they should feel completely free to pray in those spaces.

In God’s eyes, there are also no ‘safe access zones’ for abortion. Abortion is not safe. It ends the life of a child, made in God’s image. Whatever the circumstances, this is unlawful bloodshed and those who practise and enable it are culpable. God sees it all, and he will rule with perfect justice.

Someone who takes an innocent human’s life is inevitably changed. Many who have accessed or enabled abortions feel profound regret or guilt. Others harden their hearts, double down and begin supporting any-reason, any-stage abortion, completely ignoring the humanity of the child who is being killed. They keep the child out of sight, out of mind. They lie about the nature of pro-lifers outside abortion centres, pretending they are aggressive and harassing.

Abortion centres take healthy babies and healthy mothers and turn them into dead babies and bereaved mothers. These are not health services; they are death services – like the assisted suicide clinics Keir Starmer and Esther Rantzen want to see brought to our shores.

No matter how much culture may preach the moral goodness of abortion, we all know, deep down, that it is wrong. This is the real reason women or staff sometimes report ‘feeling harassed’ at clinics. The simplest reminder of what they are doing is like a finger being pressed into a bruise. It is a signal of moral pain, reminding us that something very wrong is going on.

We can choose to ignore this pain and hope that it goes away. We’re all free to take our chances and hope that God doesn’t exist, that there will be no final judgment or that he is completely fine with the lives of his beloved children being taken so that the mum can be beach ready.

But none of us need to ignore the reality of this moral pain. The God who really exists, who really is just and who really does hate bloodshed also offers real forgiveness and healing. The Apostle Paul poured his life efforts into persecuting and killing Christians – but later wrote “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV).

Many abortionists and women who have had abortions have discovered this salvation. They knew something was wrong and followed the pain to its source. They stopped ignoring or defending what they had done and instead asked for forgiveness. And the one who comes to Jesus will never be turned away (John 6:37).

Christians will now be arrested if they offer this redemption and healing near abortion centres.

We will survive.

But the women walking into BPAS and Marie Stopes centres will be deprived of real help: the gentle reminder that something is wrong; the access to counselling many pro-lifers provide; and the practical and financial support many pro-life groups offer.

For them, our nation just became more dangerous, not less.