The Thomas More Law Center
(“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, MI, today,
filed a federal lawsuit against the Maine Attorney General, the City of
Portland, Maine and several Portland police officers to stop enforcement of a
portion of the Maine Civil Rights Act (“Act”). Under the Act, it is illegal to
make any noise that can be heard inside an abortion clinic after being warned
by a police officer. A Portland police officer officially warned Pastor Andrew
March that employees could hear his anti-abortion message inside their facility
and in so doing paved the way for a State lawsuit against him under the Act.
As a result, TMLC filed a lawsuit on
behalf of Pastor Andrew March to stop enforcement of the Act as a violation of
the First Amendment right to free speech. Pastor March is the father of three
children and the founding preacher of a church in Maine. He feels called by God
to oppose the culture of death and to work to end the murder of his fellow
citizens behind the walls of Planned Parenthood. When the Attorney General
filed a lawsuit against his friend and fellow preacher Brian Ingalls under the
Act, he took up his mantel and began to preach outside the Planned Parenthood
abortion clinic. Andrew March not only wants to save lives, but also wants to
give women a last chance to avoid the enduring physical and psychological harms
caused by abortion.
The Portland Planned Parenthood is
located on a busy public thoroughfare, which, in addition to usual street
sounds such as sirens, honking, and other traffic noises, hosts city parades
and protests by hundreds of
yelling and chanting people. Yet, among this cacophony of sounds, Planned
Parenthood claims the lone, unamplified voice of Andrew March interferes with
its abortion services.
Planned Parenthood, assisted by the
Maine Attorney General and the City of Portland, is using Maine’s Civil Rights
Act to silence all Pro-Life speech in front of its facility by claiming to hear
it within the building. TMLC’s lawsuit contends that the Act is an unconstitutional
restriction on free speech and is being used to target and silence the Pro-Life
viewpoint. In fact, amid the far louder traffic and city-approved parades,
police officers enforcing the statute admit that it is the Pro-Life content of
Andrew March’s speech that allegedly interferes with abortion counseling and
procedures within the building.
Richard Thompson, President and
Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, commented on the lawsuit: “Our
lawsuit is based on the bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment that
government, in this case the State of Maine and the City of Portland, cannot
ban Pro-Life speech just because they disagree with its content or find it
offensive.”
TMLC recently defeated a previous attempt by the same
Planned Parenthood facility to silence Pro-Life speech. On Oct. 8, the U.S.
District Court in Maine entered a consent judgment in which the City of
Portland agreed that their 39-foot “buffer zone” silencing Pro-Life speech
within the vicinity of Planned Parenthood was unconstitutional. In light of the
City’s defeat, Planned Parenthood and the City of Portland seem to be going
through a list of Maine’s laws to intimidate and silence Pro-Life speech. After
charging Brian Ingalls and warning Andrew March under the Act, police officers
are now threatening Andrew March with criminal charges for disorderly
conduct—all this despite the fact that both preach peacefully and respectfully
from the Bible.
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