A devout Catholic woman who was on her knees praying when approached by police, and a man in a wheelchair who was praying the rosary with her, are the first people in Northern Ireland to be arrested in new abortion buffer zones.

The arrests were made by the PSNI at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine on Tuesday, according to a report in the Belfast Newsletter.

A friend of the pair, who often protests with them at the location, said he had spoken to ‘Mary’ [not her real name] after her arrest. He said pro-life protestors had been gathering at the location since abortion restrictions were relaxed in Northern Ireland in 2020.

“We are not part of an organisation, we are just individuals who gather there on Wednesdays because we understand that is the day that abortifacient pills are handed out to pregnant women there,” he said.

“Mary is a Roman Catholic and you can see in the photo she is kneeling as she often does in prayer – holding her rosary beads in one hand and a sign in the other.

“We stand there to reach out to mothers who are on the brink, praying that cars will do a U-turn – and we have seen that happen.”