Pastor Fights in Court to Overturn Conviction for Preaching Outside Abortion Biz
As the UK continues cracking down on pro-life free speech, a pastor in Northern Ireland is fighting for his right to free speech.
A retired Baptist pastor is appealing his conviction for preaching near a hospital that kills babies abortions, arguing that Northern Ireland’s buffer zone law criminalized gospel preaching that made no reference to abortion.
The UK has placed buffer zones around abortion centers to stop pro-life people from praying or helping women find pro-life alternatives. The zones are a violation of free speech.
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Clive Johnston, 78, of County Tyrone, a former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was convicted in May of two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act. The charges arose from a July 7, 2024, service outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, where he preached from John 3:16, led hymns on a ukulele and displayed a wooden cross with about a dozen others.
There were no banners, placards or mentions of abortion. District Judge Peter King fined him £450 and said Johnston “was motivated by two reasons: to test the legislation and to influence anyone who heard him towards the Bible and the Christian message generally.”
The Court of Appeal in Belfast heard the case Thursday.
Johnston’s lawyers maintained he was wrongly convicted because it could not be established that any “protected person” was present and that he was simply preaching the Gospel. Prosecution lawyers said the law exists to ensure people accessing abortion are “insulated from [that] behaviour.” Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan reserved judgment, stating a ruling would come “as soon as possible.”
Johnston described the conviction as a dark day for Christian freedom.
“We held a small, open air Sunday service near a hospital. We made no reference whatsoever to the issue of abortion. And yet the buffer zones law is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offence,” he said. “And at 78 years of age I find myself, for the first time, convicted of a crime.”
He added, “Nobody should be criminalized for expressing the basic truths of their faith. I preached an open-air gospel sermon on a Sunday morning, about the love that God has for all people. In Northern Ireland, of all places, surely we are allowed to express such a good and hopeful message. Yet I was convicted of a crime just for this.”
Johnston further stated, “I have confidence that my right to speak freely and express my faith is protected under UK and international law. Likewise, it is the right of anybody in the area to be allowed to stop and listen to me if they would like to, or indeed to carry on without listening if preferred. It is not the role of the state to decide when and where somebody should be allowed to engage with the Christian message. The police should not be prohibiting peaceful expressions of faith.”
The Christian Institute, which is supporting the appeal, has warned that the case “risks turning an ‘abortion buffer zone’ into a ‘Gospel censorship zone’” and that a positive outcome would help secure “much-needed public assurance that there are no gospel-free zones in Northern Ireland.”
Johnston’s case shows how such laws have been used to restrict peaceful expressions of faith near facilities where unborn children are aborted.
