A 76-year-old retired pastor is facing criminal charges after praying outside a Northern Ireland hospital in violation of what has been deemed an ‘abortion buffer zone.’ Clive Johnston is accused of staging a protest that violates the law under the nation’s Orwellian Abortion Services Safe Access Zones Act.
The 2023 law was cited in the charges describing Johnston’s actions as “influencing a protected person, whether directly or indirectly” for the service he held in the summer of 2024. The law being cited by prosecutors bans “anti-abortion protests” as well as the catch-all “other behaviors” within a specific proximity to entrances and exists of abortion providers, be they hospitals or clinics. The law demands a safe zone that stretches anywhere from 100 to 250 yards at every possible doorway.
Johnston, for his part, was conducting a worship service based on John 3:16, which in the New International Version reads: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
For more context, he was standing on the other side of a divided highway and was joined by a small group of about twelve other people. In addition to the presence of the divided highway, he appears to have been at least partially hidden from the hospital’s view by a large hedge. His defense has raised the point that at no time did his service ever even mention abortion, nor did anyone hold any signs. He faces an additional charge for failing to leave when asked.
It is also unclear if the so-called “protected person” refers to the mother or the unborn child. Were it the latter, that would obviously be rife with hypocrisy. Protections for the unborn when it comes to Christians praying for their right to life, but not protections for the actual right to life itself.
As mentioned, Johnston’s defense team is arguing that since no anti-abortion position was being communicated in his service that the charges amount to no more than religious discrimination. Reacting to these charges was Simon Calvert, the deputy director of The Christian Institute.
“Prosecuting Pastor Johnston for preaching ‘God so loved the world’ near a hospital on a quiet Sunday is a shocking new attempt to restrict freedom of religion and freedom of speech in a part of the world where open-air gospel services are a part of the culture,” Calvert is quoted as saying.
“Christians are pro-life. But preaching the good news about Christ is not the same thing as protesting against abortion,” he continued, accusing police and prosecutors of “overstepping.”
“There is a vital principle at stake,” Calvert added. “If the Gospel can be banned in this public place, where else can it be banned?”