The US vice-president has criticised the UK over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre.
In a wider attack on what he suggested is a shift away from democratic values across Europe, JD Vance claimed the “basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular” are under threat.
He referred to the conviction of Adam Smith-Connor, 51, who had denied doing so but was found guilty last year of failing to comply with a public space protection order at the centre in Bournemouth in November 2022.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Mr Vance that the US’ “very dear friends the United Kingdom” appeared to have seen a “backslide in conscience rights.”
“A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own,” he said.
“After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied simply it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before.
“Now, the officers were not moved – Adam was found guilty of (breaking) the Government’s new buffer zones law, which criminalises silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person’s decision within 200 metres of abortion facility.
“He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution… in Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.”
In England, where the incident involving Smith-Connor took place, buffer zones apply within 150 metres of an abortion clinic. In Scotland, the zones apply within 200 metres.
The case also preceded the enforcement of the Public Order Act 2023, which introduced the new rules on safe access zones outside all abortion clinics following a free vote in Parliament that received cross-party support.
Smith-Connor had instead been charged with breaching a public space protection order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which banned activity including protests, harassment and vigils.
Proponents of safe access zones say women using a clinic can feel intimidated and distressed by the presence of someone standing in the area praying, even if they are not speaking.
Critics argue the rule undermines the right to freedom of religion and free speech.
Smith-Connor was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 in court costs and victim surcharge after the legal proceedings brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
Mr Vance’s speech, and his passing mention of the Russian war in Ukraine, came at a time of heightened concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
“In Washington there is a new sheriff in town and, under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square,” he said to tepid applause.
He also said the administration “believes we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine”.
Mr Vance is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later, for talks that many hope will shed some light on the US president’s ideas for a negotiated end to the war.
It comes after Mr Trump said he had agreed to “work together, very closely” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on starting negotiations to resolve the conflict.
The Liberal Democrats said Britain would not “take lectures about political freedoms” from “the acolyte of a president who tried to undermine democracy and now praises Putin”.
“The British people will see straight through this hypocrisy,” the party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Calum Miller MP, said.
The Green Party said the vice-president’s use of the summit to “lambast allies rather than focus on the real chaos-makers in the world” was “sadly predictable but no less bizarre and dangerous for that”.
The party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman said: “President Trump’s administration seems determined to usher in a new world where old friends are discarded and new friends made of dangerous autocrats.
“The UK should have no part of that and should work with others to protect international frameworks and institutions that support co-operation and the rule of law.”
