The United States has issued its strongest warning yet to the UK over exclusion zones which have been used to target silent prayer and peaceful expression outside abortion facilities.

Ireland passed legislation in 2024 enacting the very same prohibitions of free speech within 100m of clinics and hospitals that administer abortions.

In a comment to the Daily Telegraph, the US State Department accused the UK government of committing an “egregious violation of the fundamental right to free speech and religious liberty.”

“It is common sense that standing silently and offering consensual conversation does not constitute harm.”

The comment comes in response to cases in which individuals – some elderly – have been arrested, charged, or even criminally convicted for simply for praying silently or offering consensual conversations within large censored zones outside abortion facilities.

Under current legislation in England & Wales, “influencing” a person’s decision to access an abortion facility, within 150m of the facility, is a crime carrying a potentially unlimited fine.

In Scotland, similar legislation exists, censoring the area within 200m of all hospitals.