(The Lion) — A bureau of the U.S. State Department announced Sunday it is monitoring the case of a British woman on trial for engaging in civil conversation with women inside a “buffer zone” of a nearby abortion facility.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), which defends individual liberty and democratic freedoms worldwide, posted a statement on X about the case ahead of its April 4 verdict, Fox News reported.

“UK relations share a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the department said in its post on X. “However, as Vice President Vance has said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, was arrested for holding a sign that read “Here to talk, if you want” outside of an abortion facility in the U.K., according to a press release from ADF International, which is supporting her legal defense.

“I am grateful to the U.S. State Department for taking note of my case,” Tossici-Bolt said in the ADF press release. “Great Britain is supposed to be a free country, yet I’ve been dragged through court merely for offering consensual conversation. I’m thankful to ADF International for supporting my legal defence.”

ADF International’s London Legal Counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole responded to the bureau’s post with his own statement.

“The U.K.’s censorship crisis is the result of a longstanding failure by British politicians to vigilantly protect fundamental rights in the U.K., while hypocritically claiming to champion them abroad,” Igunnubole said, according to the release. “We cannot consistently claim the U.K. is a bastion of free speech when law-abiding citizens like Livia are prosecuted for nothing other than peacefully offering to speak to people.”

Igunnubole said the U.S. bureau’s post is consistent with American freedoms.

“It is right for the U.S. State Department and JD Vance to warn the U.K. that censorship is antithetical to freedom, democracy, and societal flourishing.”

District Judge Orla Austin will reportedly hand down Tossici-Bolt’s verdict on Friday. Last October, Austin found Adam Smith-Connor guilty for silently praying in a similar “buffer zone” outside an abortion facility, ADF International reported in its press release.

“Today, authorities are targeting conversations and even silent prayers they say are related to abortion,” Igunnubole said in his statement. “Tomorrow, it could be any other topic that goes against the mainstream perspective, as defined and policed by those in power. The slippery slope towards tyranny is clear. This is not how free and democratic countries should function.”

Tossici-Bolt said she is saddened by the UK’s failure to defend free speech but is grateful to the U.S. administration for promoting the protection of these rights.

“Peaceful expression is a fundamental right – no one should be criminalised for harmless offers to converse,”  Tossici-Bolt said. “It is tragic to see that the increase of censorship in this country has made the U.S. feel it has to remind us of our shared values and basic civil liberties.”

Photo: Livia Tossici-Bolt and Jeremiah Igunnubole of ADF International | courtesy of ADF International