In Florida: Pro-life counselors win another clinic free speech case

In Florida - another effort to stop counseling outside of abortion mills. This was pushed by the Obama Administration under FACE!

Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice had sought to levy thousands of dollars in fines against pro-life activist Mary Susan Pine as well as seeking a permanent injunction banning her from continuing her faithful 20-year ministry outside an abortion clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Judge was not impressed.

Obama Admin Loses Fight to Persecute Pro-Life Activist

Judge Ryskamp concluded that “the evidence could not lead a rational jury to find that Ms. Pine’s conduct [i.e., having peaceful conversations with clinic visitors on a public sidewalk] constituted a physical obstruction within the meaning of FACE.” The Judge chastised Holder for seeking to apply federal law in a clearly unconstitutional manner, saying, “Stretching the terms of FACE to apply to this case…so that a desire to provide people with information about alternatives to abortion constitutes an unlawful motive, would unjustifiably impinge on Ms. Pine’s First Amendment rights.”

The government’s decision to prosecute Pine despite having no evidence of wrongdoing prompted Judge Ryskamp to suspect a conspiracy at the highest level of the Obama Administration.

“The Court is at a loss as to why the government chose to prosecute this case in the first place. The Court can only wonder if this action was the result of a concerted effort between the Government and the [abortion clinic], which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities,” the judge said.

This is certainly relevant to the recent efforts of several legislators in the Westchester County Legislature to stamp out similar free speech in Westchester.

Comments

[Eileen Peterson]

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!

[Sister Mary Anne]

Praise be Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother.