The Pro-Life Generation (PLG) experienced victory and relief when President Donald Trump released the 23 pro-life political prisoners and Vice President JD Vance promised to protect peaceful pro-lifers at the National Pro-Life March.  

Even so, Vance isn’t naive enough to think that we can all breathe easy, and neither is Students for Life of America (SFLA); any new administration can erode free speech rights, just like when former President Joe Biden took office. It must be constantly and consistently fought for, as Vance alluded at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany. Addressing the United Kingdom’s free speech regression, he specifically cites “thought crimes” by pro-lifers silently praying, an anti-free speech policy he vocalized his strong disagreement with.  

“I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer. Just as the [President Joe] Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the [President Donald] Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that,” said Vance during his speech, later referring to Adam Smith-Connor, a British man arrested and convicted for silent prayer. “The British government charged [him] … with the ‘heinous’ crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. Not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own.” 

READ: Three Strikes & Free Speech is Out: British Veteran Third to Be Arrested in UK for Silent Prayer Outside Abortion Facility 

The United Kingdom continues to enforce more “thought crime” laws, the slippery slope towards a total Orwellian future.  

READ: Orwellian Persecution: Pro-Lifers Arrested for Silently Praying and Sued for Speaking Outside of Abortion Facility 

Last year, Scotland enforced its Safe Access Zones Act, prohibiting people from gathering within 646 feet of an abortion vendor. Despite some in the Scottish Government crying “misinformation,” even the left-leaning news outlet Telegraph reported even more egregious overreach of the law, writing, “Residents in these zones have been warned they could be in breach of the Abortion Services Act (Scotland) 2024 if they do “anything” that ‘would cause harassment, alarm, or distress’ to staff and patients, even if this activity is carried out in the privacy of their own home.” (emphasis added)  

Other countries in the United Kingdom have embraced anti-pro-life action laws, including:  

• England: The Public Order (Abortion Clinics) Act passed in 2023 and established “buffer zones” within 150 meters around abortion vendors. Additionally, local authorities can create even MORE buffer zones around specific areas.  
• Wales: The country enacted a similar policy to England by creating barriers and limiting protests.  
• Northern Ireland: This part of the United Kingdom also has a similar “buffer” law.  

As we’ve proven, these have become more than anti-free speech laws, but anti-free thought laws, as SILENT prayer has joined the ranks of praying out loud, peacefully protesting, or holding a sign, or even having a pro-life bumper sticker. We hope that our pro-life neighbors across the pond aren’t completely helpless against these laws. We hope it’s not too late for the United Kingdom to change course.  

READ: Pro-Life Violations Extend Beyond American College Campuses: UK Preacher Convicted for Displaying Bible Verse Sign Outside Abortion Facility 

For America, there’s still time. Former President Ronald Reagan once famously said during his inaugural address, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.”  

If only Reagan could see how divided the culture was now between opposite values. He might rephrase it to “freedom is four years, one presidential election, away from extinction.” As hard as Trump and Vance may might for freedom of speech, all that work could be stripped away by an anti-abortion and strong left-leaning presidency, which is why the pro-life movement needs more concrete actions to keep pro-life speech free in the United States. While we’re grateful for newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FACE Act on its own must be repealed, a weaponized federal act against pro-lifers, for the sake of future generations and presidencies.  

May Vance’s warning about Europe be a wakeup call to pro-life America, and may we heed it and fight on the legislative and cultural level to prevent more pro-life free speech prosecutions.  

READ NEXT: What Planned Parenthood Won’t Tell You, The New York Times Will: Inside the NYT’s Bombshell Report