U.S. State Department ‘monitoring’ UK government arrest of pro-life advocate

Livia Tossici-Bolt is awaiting a verdict in her case in which she was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics. / Credit: Photo courtesy of ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2025 / 17:56 pm (CNA).

A bureau of the United States Department of State announced it is “monitoring” an arrest of a pro-life advocate in the United Kingdom who was charged with violating a “buffer zone” that restricts pro-life speech near abortion clinics.

In a post on X, the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor confirmed that Senior Adviser Sam Samson met with Livia Tossici-Bolt, a pro-life advocate charged with breaching a buffer zone by standing near an abortion clinic and holding a sign that read, “Here to talk, if you want.”

The verdict for Tossici-Bolt, who was charged with breaching a public spaces protection order, is expected to be handed down on Friday by District Judge Orla Austin — the same judge who delivered a guilty verdict to pro-life advocate Adam Smith-Connor for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in October 2024.

“We are monitoring her case,” the bureau’s post on X read. “It is important that the U.K. respect and protect freedom of expression.”

The post referenced comments made by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Munich earlier this year in which he chastised the deterioration of free speech and religious freedom within Europe. Vance specifically criticized the British enforcement of “buffer zone” laws and the conviction of Smith-Connor.

“U.S.-U.K. relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the post read. “However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

Tossici-Bolt said in a statement that she is “grateful” the State Department is interested in her case, adding that “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation.”

Her statement was sent out by Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is representing her in court.

“Peaceful expression is a fundamental right — no one should be criminalized for harmless offers to converse,” she added. “It is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the U.S. feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.”

Tossici-Bolt expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump’s administration “for prioritizing the preservation and promotion of freedom of expression and for engaging in robust diplomacy to that end.”

“It deeply saddens me that the U.K. is seen as an international embarrassment when it comes to free speech,” she continued. “My case, involving only a mere invitation to speak, is but one example of the extreme and undeniable state of censorship in Great Britain today. It is important that the government actually does respect freedom of expression, as it claims to.”