A delegation from the State Department under President Donald Trump met with pro-life activists who had been arrested for silently praying outside abortion clinics.
The five-member team traveled to Great Britain to conduct a fact-finding mission focused on concerns about freedom of speech.
The visit was led by Samuel Samson, a senior adviser with the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and included meetings with British officials, as well as conversations with individuals arrested under laws restricting protests near abortion facilities, The Telegraph reported.
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The delegation also challenged British media regulator Ofcom on the Online Safety Act, according to the newspaper.
The mission included meetings with Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, Rose Docherty, Adam Smith-Connor, Livia Tossici-Bolt and Fr. Sean Gough. Each of them had been arrested or convicted for silent protest or prayer near abortion clinics in cities including Birmingham and Bournemouth, England, and Glasgow, Scotland.
The activists were invited to speak with the delegation at part of a private gathering held in a “nondescript” office block where they described their experiences of arrest and prosecution.
Docherty, a 74-year-old grandmother, became the first person charged under Scotland’s new buffer zone law after she was seen standing near Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. She stated that she only offered consensual conversation and did not break the law.
“All I did was stand peacefully. … I didn’t influence, I didn’t harass, I didn’t intimidate,” she was quoted as saying.
Vaughan-Spruce was arrested in March 2023 for praying silently near an abortion clinic in Birmingham without any signage or vocal expression. Though she was not charged, her detention drew criticism from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
She welcomed the attention the U.S. government had given to the matter.
Adam Smith-Connor, an Army veteran, was convicted last October for breaching a protest ban near a clinic in Bournemouth. He received a two-year conditional discharge. U.S. Vice President JD Vance referred to his case at the Munich Security Conference in February, calling it an example of the retreat of free speech in Britain and Europe.
Tossici-Bolt, 64, who also received a two-year conditional discharge and was fined over £20,000 (roughly $27,000), met with the delegation and praised the Trump administration for its involvement.
Her arrest raised concerns in Washington, with reports that U.S. officials warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer that they were “monitoring” the situation.
According to The Telegraph, discussions around her case became entangled in the U.K.’s trade negotiations with the U.S., with a source claiming the matter was relevant to Britain’s bid for tariff exemptions.
Starmer responded to questions on the issue during a meeting at the White House in February, stating that the U.K. had a long-standing tradition of free speech and did not seek to interfere with American citizens. “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the U.K., and it will last for a very, very long time,” he said.
All the individuals contacted by the U.S. delegation were defended by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom International.
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department was quoted as saying, “U.S.-U.K. relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the U.K. It is important that the U.K. respects and protects freedom of expression.”
At the Munich Security Conference, Vance warned European leaders against limiting religious expression and conservative viewpoints. He said that across Europe, Christians were being fined, prosecuted, and excluded for expressing beliefs, especially regarding abortion.
Vance also criticized efforts to block populist parties from political coalitions.
Vance pointed to new European Union measures under the Digital Services Act, introduced in January, which require social media platforms to remove so-called “illegal content” or face steep financial penalties. While EU lawmakers said the rules were meant to combat foreign interference, critics in the U.S. said they could restrict American users’ expression.
In March, the Scottish lawmaker behind that country’s abortion buffer zone legislation acknowledged that, in some cases, praying inside one’s own home could breach the law. This admission came after Vance pointed out that individuals living near clinics had received letters warning them that private prayer could be considered unlawful — a claim the lawmaker had initially dismissed as misinformation.
The buffer zone law prohibits actions that might be perceived as causing distress, deterring access to abortion services, or influencing decisions regarding such procedures.
