Retired Pastor Convicted Over Sermon Inside Abortion ‘Buffer Zone’

Clive Johnston was preaching near a Northern Ireland hospital covered by abortion ‘safe access’ legislation, but he says he didn’t mention abortion.

Retired pastor Clive Johnston speaks outside Coleraine Court in Northern Ireland on May 7, 2026. Courtesy of The Christian Institute

A retired pastor was convicted on May 7 of breaching Northern Ireland’s abortion buffer zone law after preaching an open-air sermon that he said made no reference to abortion.

Clive Johnston was preaching from a well-known Bible verse, John 3:16, in a “Safe Access Zone” outside Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital in Northern Ireland on July 7, 2024.