CV NEWS FEED // A British court has set the appeal date for a veteran and father who was convicted for praying silently outside an abortion clinic.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) reported that Adam Smith-Connor will reappear before Bournemouth Crown Court July 28.
“Surely a silent thought cannot be a crime,” Smith-Connor stated. “With support from ADF UK, I’m appealing my conviction. The government simply cannot be allowed to determine the content of thoughts and prayers, depending on where you’re standing.”
ADF UK legal counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole, who represented Smith-Connor in court, added that the appeal held great importance.
“Adam’s conviction was a watershed moment for British freedoms, and one the public must not take lightly,” Igunnubole said. “A failure to protect thought and peaceful speech anywhere creates a threat to these rights everywhere. Buffer zones or otherwise, we should uncompromisingly safeguard the rights on which our democracy is based.”
Smith-Connor was convicted Oct. 16, 2024, on a two-year continual discharge, meaning he would only be sentenced if he commits another offence in the next two years, and fined £9,000 for silent prayer, as CatholicVote previously reported.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council brought legal charges on Smith-Connor after he prayed silently near an abortion clinic in November 2022.
He was praying inside of a “buffer zone” surrounding an abortion clinic, where protests are forbidden. However, he was standing silently, and police interrogated him as to what he was doing, and what the nature of his silent prayers were.
The judge ruled that his silent prayer was a “deliberate” violation of the Public Space Protection Order, which forbids protests outside of abortion clinics.