If you’re a Mass-going Catholic, you probably feel disturbed by the idea of a law criminalizing peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, after all, says that “God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”

But what if you don’t believe in God? Would you still find the idea troubling?

And what if, as well as being an atheist, you supported legal abortion, believing that women should have “maximum access” to the practice? Would you still have concerns about the proposed law?

For Claire Fox, the answer is “yes.”

Named a baroness in 2020, Fox is a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the U.K. Parliament.

In recent months, she has been raising concerns about a push to curtail pro-life gatherings near abortion facilities nationwide through a draft law known as the Public Order Bill.

The U.K. government introduced the bill into Parliament in May 2022 to address disruptive tactics used by groups such as climate protesters. But pro-choice parliamentarians added a clause seeking to criminalize any “protest” near any abortion clinic nationwide, seemingly including silent prayer.