Campaigner says judge’s decision to ‘criminalise prayer’ has big implications for Christians

Spokesperson for the Be Here for Me Campaign, Clare Carberry, told Premier’s News Hour: “We are very surprised, very dismayed, it’s an absolutely momentous ruling. This is the first time since the 16^th century, I believe, normal prayer has been made criminal in the UK.”

Ealing Council was the first in the country to create a 100-metre protest-free “buffer zone” outside a Marie Stopes clinic in the west London borough.

Mr Justice Turner decided to allow the ban after a Christian mother challenged it. He said the council was “entitled” to conclude it was a “necessary step in a democratic society”.

Carberry believes the judge’s decision has huge implications for Christianity in the UK.

“A Christian may not pray in that very wide area on that particular road,” she said. “You also may not make any expression of opinions regarding abortion and you may not offer help for women who are in need. For a Christian this is particularly significant because practice is just as important at theory for us.

Ealing Council enforced the buffer zone following what is described as protests that intimidated, distressed and harassed women using the abortion clinic.  

However, Carberry said women were not protesting but rather holding prayer vigils and offering the clinic’s patients information about alternatives to abortion.

“We don’t describe what we’re doing as a…