Retired baptist pastor Clive Johnston to face criminal charges in court tomorrow after sermon in abortion protest buffer zone

Retired pastor Clive Johnston, from Strabane, preached in the buffer zone around Causeway Coast Hospital on Sunday 7 July 2024.

UK buffer zones made international headlines last month when US vice-president JD Vance singled them out for criticism in a speech to the Munich Security Conference.

He caused outrage by claiming that the UK and EU face a greater “threat from within” from censorship than the dangers posed by Russia and China.

Eight zones of 100-250m were placed around NI abortion clinics in 2023 to keep pro-life campaigners away from patients and staff.

It is now a criminal offence for people to be "impeded, recorded, influenced or to be caused harassment, alarm or distress" within the zones, punishable by a fine of up to £500.

Pastor Johnston told the News Letter today he was surprised by the support he has received.

"I have been flabbergasted and astounded by the messages of support and assurances of prayer from people as far away as South Africa, the US, Croatia, Romania, Spain, England and the Republic of Ireland,” he said.

“And locally I have had many messages of support from across the denominations."

He previously noted that Aontú Deputy Leader Gemma Brolly had offered her support and was "delighted" that the Christian Institute is supporting him.

The charity’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert and In-house solicitor Sam Webster are both expected in court today, having previously helped Ashers Bakery in Belfast win their legal case in the Supreme Court in the 'gay cake' row in 2018.

A spokeswoman for the PPS said previously: "Following careful consideration of all the available evidence in a police investigation file, a decision to prosecute an individual for one count of allegedly doing an act in a safe access zone contrary to the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act (Northern Ireland) 2023 and one count of failing to comply with a direction under the same Act issued on 13th February 2024."

All Stormont parties but the DUP and TUV backed the new buffer zones in 2022, but the new law was challenged by the Attorney General For NI.

However the Supreme Court ruled that the law did not "disproportionately interfere" with protesters' human rights and was justified to ensure women could access abortions "under conditions which respect their privacy and dignity, and are not driven instead to less safe alternatives".

In late 2023 the PSNI told the BBC that more buffer zone breaches were reported in Coleraine than any other area of NI - 20 out of the total of 50 at that time.

The buffer zones were spearheaded by the Green Party in 2022. Belfast Greens Councillor Áine Groogan says they are now “an important safeguard” for women who “no longer have to run the gauntlet of protestors to access reproductive healthcare”.

In February a 74-year-old woman became the first person to be arrested under Scotland's new buffer zone law, after protesting at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

JD Vance had said the Scottish government had distributed letters in buffer zones warning residents that private prayer in their homes could be a criminal offence.

The Scottish Government said he was “incorrect” but the architect of the law, Greens MSP Gillian Mackay, conceded that someone could be prosecuted for praying “performatively” at their window.