Silent Prayer Banned Near UK Clinics

Britain’s 'safe access zones' around abortion clinics ban all protest activity—including silent vigils and prayer—within designated areas. Violators can face criminal penalties, marking a shift from regulating disruptive conduct to criminalizing even nonverbal, non‑disruptive expression. — It sharpens the debate over whether UK speech law is drifting from policing behavior toward policing thought, with knock‑on effects for how other speech codes may be drafted and enforced.