Back in December, March for Life UK director Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham, England. As she stood quietly, police approached her and asked “if she was praying.” She answered that she might have been, or was simply thinking about other things.  

“My faith is a central part of who I am,” she explained later, “so sometimes I’ll stand or walk near an abortion facility and pray about this issue. This is something I’ve done pretty much every week for around the last 20 years of my life.” 

Local governments across the U.K. have utilized “Public Spaces Protection Orders” to shut down what they describe as “anti-social behaviour.” Though Vaughan-Spruce wasn’t being disruptive in any way, apparently in Birmingham, England, thinking and praying the wrong things near an abortion clinic is considered worse than the violence happening inside. 

For those who love life, that should clarify the issue—and what we must do to change hearts and minds.