A 78-year-old retired Baptist pastor from Northern Ireland has been convicted of breaching Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act after holding a small open-air church service near Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.
District Judge Peter King found Clive Johnston guilty on May 7, imposing a fine of £450 ($614). The prosecution centered on Johnston’s preaching of the Bible verse John 3:16—the passage widely known as “God loved the world and gave His only begotten Son so believers may have everlasting life”—within an area designated as a safe access zone for abortion services.
Northern Ireland’s law prohibits influencing, preventing or impeding access to facilities where abortions are performed within 100 meters of such sites, or causing harassment, alarm, or distress to individuals in those zones. The judge ruled Johnston guilty of “influencing” inside the protected area.
Johnston, a former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland and grandfather of seven, stated this was the first prosecution under the law for an open-air church service with no reference to abortion. He emphasized that his sermon included neither banners nor placards and made no mention of abortion during his preaching.
The Christian Institute, which supports Johnston, described the case as unprecedented: “Johnston had been preaching from John 3:16 in the Safe Access Zone outside Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital.” They noted he conducted the service on July 7, 2024, without any connection to abortion discussions.
After the verdict, Johnston called it a dark day for Christian freedom and expressed deep sadness at being convicted for preaching the Gospel. He warned that the ruling redefines peaceful Christian witness as unlawful influence: “How can any public expression of Christian belief be safe if John 3:16 can be criminalized because of where it is spoken?”
Johnston added that the law’s broad scope means holding a Sunday service could constitute a criminal offense, and this conviction marks his first time in his life being found guilty of a crime at age 78. He stated he had never imagined leaving court with such a sentence while preaching the Christian gospel.
The case highlights how Northern Ireland’s safe access zones—now enacted across the United Kingdom and Canada—criminalize religious expression without requiring any engagement with abortion debates. Critics argue that simply standing within 100 meters of an abortion facility can result in criminal charges for activities like reading Scripture or praying.
