A British army veteran who spent time serving his country in Afghanistan was found guilty in a court of law for daring to pray — silently — close to the location of an abortion clinic in England. Folks, this is the kind of thing progressives here in the United States want to do in our country. In fact, it’s already started. Several pro-life advocates have been prosecuted and one even given a decade prison sentence, for trying to convince women not to murder pre-born children outside of abortion mills. Freedom of speech and religion are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
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Adam Smith-Connor breached a Public Spaces Protection Order by this action, according to the ruling at Poole Magistrates Court in the town of Poole near Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The court gave Smith-Connor a conditional discharge, meaning he will be sentenced only if convicted of future offenses within the next two years.
“Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts — silent thoughts — can be illegal in the United Kingdom,” Smith-Connor remarked after the court ruling was handed down. “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind, and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?”
The court found Smith-Connor guilty for an act of a “disapproval of abortion,” though he was only thinking about his son, who had been aborted many years before, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.
So wait a second. You mean you can’t disapprove of abortion and voice that out loud without being charged for a crime? This is pure evil. A law that is not grounded in the goodness of God’s law is, by default, the product of men whose hearts are ruled by the devil. And no doubt the persecution of God’s people, coupled with the approval of abortion, plasters a smile on the face of our Enemy.
Smith-Connor had slightly bowed his head and clasped his hands in prayer on a public green in a buffer zone near the abortion facility in Orphir Road, Bournemouth in November 2022. During a confrontation with police officers that he recorded, they asked him, “What is the nature of your prayer?” The buffer zone had been previously legalized under a Public Spaces Protection Order enforced on streets near the abortion clinic. The intent of the buffer zone had been to stop pro-life beliefs being expressed near the facility, including offering help or prayers to women in crisis pregnancies, according to a press statement by ADF International.
Defense attorneys argued that Smith-Connor’s prayerful thoughts, beliefs and opinions were not a crime, especially as he stood peacefully and silently on a public street. He stood behind a tree, spoke to no one and had his back to the facility. The court also ordered the father of two children to pay prosecution costs amounting to £9,000 ($11,700 USD). Smith-Connor reflected on the court verdict given by a court representing the country he fought for as a soldier.
“I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon,” he went on to say. “I continue that spirit of service as a healthcare professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thought-crimes are now being prosecuted in the U.K.”
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Jeremiah Igunnubole, a legal counsel for ADF UK spoke after the ruling, saying that the result of the case is a “legal turning point of immense proportions.”
“A man has been convicted today because of the content of his thoughts – his prayers to God – on the public streets of England,” Igunnubole explained. “We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought.”
What we have here is the crossing over of the thought police from George Orwell’s “1984” from fiction to real life. And it’s terrifying. Orwell wrote that book as a warning of the kind of society we could end up with in the future if we weren’t careful. Instead of heeding his admonition, radical leftists embraced it as a playbook, a guide for what they wanted to accomplish. Sadly, the only reason they were successful is because not enough people joined in the resistance against such ideals when they were first being put into action.
ADF Internationals has stated they will be taking a closer look at the judgment and will consider various options for appealing the decision.
“Human rights are for all people – no matter their view on abortion,” Igunnubole continued.