A retired pastor’s appeal against his conviction for preaching on John 3:16 in one of Northern Ireland’s abortion censorship zones will be heard on 15 October.
Clive Johnston, 78, was convicted at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on 7 May 2026 and fined £450 for holding a small open-air church service in a ‘Safe Access Zone’ near Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.
At the appeal, lawyers for Pastor Johnston will argue that the District Judge failed to properly recognise Clive Johnston’s rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion under the European Convention. The Institute is supporting his legal action.
Following the conviction, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) announced that hospital chaplains and clergy risk committing a criminal offence if they carry a Bible through a public area of a hospital, or pray with patients on request, in case somebody is “influenced” about an unrelated abortion.
Ahead of his appeal, Clive Johnston said: “We held a small, open air Sunday service near a hospital. We made no reference whatsoever to the issue of abortion. And yet the buffer zones law is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offence.
“At 78 years of age I find myself, for the first time, convicted of a crime.
“I believe there shouldn’t be any public spaces in Northern Ireland where you can be prosecuted and convicted simply for preaching the Gospel. If someone is behaving violently or engaging in harassment, then, absolutely, they should be prosecuted. But I wasn’t doing any of those things.
