This grandma has her financial penalty overturned for praying next to an abortion facility

Rose Lalor with her rosary in Liverpool, England. / ADF International

Rosa Lalor of Liverpool, United Kingdom, was given the fee in February 2021, during the nation’s lockdown, after a police officer asked her why she was outside and she said she was “walking and praying.”

She was arrested, jailed, and fined when the officer involved claimed that this was not “a plausible excuse” and that she was actually protesting.

Merseyside Police has now acknowledged that Lalor should not have been detained because she was completely within her rights to silently pray while out walking and that her actions were reasonable and acceptable under Covid-19 regulations as a result of a legal challenge, supported by the organisation ADF International.

Rosa’s legal representative, Jeremiah Igunnubole, stated in a statement on July 18 that the contentious episode was part of a troubling pattern where people were punished for having unpopular opinions.

He stated: “We are overjoyed to celebrate Rosa’s triumph today, but it is terribly sad that this law-abiding woman was initially exposed to unpleasant, protracted criminal proceedings, perhaps because of her pro-life stance.

This continues a troubling pattern in law enforcement where people are frequently detained just because their opinions are deemed provocative or contentious.

Then, Mr. Igunnubole demanded that “police personnel throughout the nation be up-skilled to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the right to freedom of expression and religion as it relates to public order.”

The comments are relevant to an event that occurred in February of last year, when Merseyside Police were compelled to apologise for falsely asserting that “being insulting is an offence” as part of a billboard campaign to urge people to report hate crime.

Later, the police department made it clear that while hate crimes are illegal, “being obnoxious is not in itself an illegal act.”

“I’m glad that the prosecution has finally abandoned this accusation after a long and exhausting battle for justice,” Rosa Lalor said in a statement on July 18.

I accepted this challenge with the assistance of ADF UK to demonstrate that everyone has the fundamental freedom to pray, including the right to practise private mental prayer as I did.