Campaigners say freedom of thought is being criminalised after MPs voted against an amendment to protect silent prayer and consensual conversations around abortion clinics. The amendment proposed to protect peaceful prayer and conversations was lost by 116 in favour to 299 against. Christian advocacy group ADF UK said that this is the first time that Parliament has voted to introduce in modern British history 'thought crime'. Nobody should be arrested, go to court and face these measures simply for holding a peaceful silent prayer in their own mind. The censorship zones around abortion clinics are intended to prevent the harassment of women using abortion services, but this new legislation removes ‘valid choices’ for those in crisis pregnancies and is ‘devastating’ for women and Christians.  MP Andrew Lewer said, ‘the clause leads us into the territory of thought crimes and creates unprecedented interference with the rights to freedom of speech and thought in the UK that would not be out of place in a dystopian novel’.