Thought crime ‘now real’

A pro-life campaigner has been fined after refusing to move away from a ‘buffer zone’ outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham.

Two police community support officers from West Midlands Police told Sebastian Vaughan-Spruce that he was breaching a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) – even though he had reportedly been standing silently outside the clinic.

Under the Public Order Act, local authorities can impose abortion ‘buffer zones’ making it an offence to engage in any act which has the effect of ‘influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services’. Offenders face an unlimited fine.