A pro-life woman who stood outside an abortion clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham, in violation of a public space protection order, has found herself in the middle of a furious row after her case was picked up by a conservative outlet in the US. Misinformation about why Isabel Vaughan Spruce, 45, was arrested spread around social media after Mary Margaret Olohan, a senior reporter for the US publication The Daily Signal, shared the video of the arrest and falsely claimed it was for “silent praying”. Twitter was forced to attach a corrective statement to Ms Olohan’s post after it went viral.
In the video of Ms Vaughan-Spruce being arrested, the police officer asked her why she was standing there given they know she “does not live nearby”.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce responded that she was standing in front of “an abortion centre” but that she was not protesting. She said that she was “praying in her head”.
She later refused to voluntarily go to the police station upon the request of the officer, forcing her to be arrested in accordance with the law.
This information was taken at face value, and the misinformed notion that she was detained simply for “silently praying” was spread on social media.
The claims were picked up by British right wing commentator Calvin Robinson, who said: “No one should ever be arrested for silent prayer.
“Not in the UK, not anywhere. Regardless of your position on abortion, this is wrong. I await our very vocal religious leaders to speak out in support of Isabel and freedom of religion.”
Leader of Reform UK Richard Tice also shared the video, declaring that “the police need to explain themselves urgently … a woman arrested in the UK for silently praying in her head on the street?”
But Twitter swiftly issued a correction in light of the hysteria bred by these false claims, as well as posting a link to further information.
READ MORE: Pollster dismisses claims that abortion fury stopped Trump candidates [REPORT]
