The US State Dept. said it is ‘monitoring’ Livia Tossici-Bolt’s case and urged the UK to ‘respect’ free speech as she faces prosecution for holding a pro-life sign near an abortuary.
(LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. State Department made a statement this week showing support for a British pro-life advocate currently facing prosecution for a peaceful protest outside an abortion center.
In a series of X posts on March 30, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) offered its support for Livia Tossici-Bolt, a British pro-life advocate, who was charged for peacefully holding up a sign within the buffer zone of an abortuary, and emphasized that the administration is currently monitoring the case.
The statement comes after Vice President JD Vance’s explosive Munich Security Conference speech in February, in which he called out Britain for its prosecution of peaceful pro-lifers while championing freedom of speech and expression.
“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 United Kingdom,” the first X post read.
“While recently in the U.K., DRL Senior Advisor Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, who faces criminal charges for offering conversation within a legally prohibited ‘buffer zone’ at an abortion clinic. We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
For two days in March 2023, Livia Tossici-Bolt, a retired medical scientist, held a sign reading “here to talk, if you want to” near the BPAS abortuary in Bournemouth. While she had the sign, several individuals approached Livia to discuss a variety of issues they were facing in their lives.
Local authorities eventually confronted Tossici-Bolt, alleging that she had breached a local abortion “buffer zone” or the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which bans expression of approval or disapproval of abortion within 150 meters of abortion facilities. They issued a Fixed Penalty Notice, which Livia refused to pay, on the grounds that she did not breach the terms of the PSPO and has the right, protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which protects freedom of expression, to offer consensual conversations.
READ: WATCH: UK pro-lifer confronted by police for offering help to pregnant women
The Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (BCP) Council charged Tossici-Bolt for violating the PSPO, and her trial was held in March. The verdict in her case is due April 4.
“There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this,” Tossici-Bolt said before her trial per Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is providing her legal counsel.
The Trump administration’s support for the British pro-life advocate comes just two months after J.D. Vance’s Munich Security Conference speech, in which the vice president called out Britain for arresting peaceful pro-lifers like Adam Smith-Conor for only praying silently in front of abortion centers, while claiming to favor free speech.
READ: JD Vance calls out ‘crazy’ British arrests of pro-lifers silently praying near abortion centers
“A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and Army veteran with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. Not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own,” Vance said in the speech.
“After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied simply, it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before. Now the officers were not moved. Adam was found guilty of breaking the government’s new buffer zone’s law which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person’s decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility,” the vice president added.
