Maryland county forced to pay $375k in legal fees for targeting pregnancy care centers
UPDATE, 6/24, 10:40a: More good news! As reported by CBNNews.com today:
A federal district court struck down an Austin, Texas, anti-pregnancy care law that forced pro-life pregnancy care centers to post messages that encourage women to go elsewhere.
Another win for Alliance Defending Freedom and pro-life!
6/19 12:52p: This decision should go a long way in dissuading government bodies from passing unconstitutional ordinances that attempt to muzzle the life-saving work of pregnancy care centers.
Such ordinances may hurt their municipal pocketbooks.
A federal district court has ordered Montgomery County, Maryland, to pay $375,000 in legal fees to Centro Tepayac Silver Spring Women’s Center after the pregnancy care center won its 2010 lawsuit against the county for violating its right to free speech.
The ordinance attempted to force the pregnancy care center to post signage if counselors were nonmedical personnel, while giving a pass to nonmedical counselors at family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood.
The concept for this ordinance was provided by constitutionally-challenged NARAL.
After the ordinance was first introduced in Baltimore in 2009, a few other abortion-obsessed local bodies in Austin (Texas), Montgomery County, New York City, and San Francisco jumped on the bandwagon, only to be stopped in their tracks by pro-life lawsuits, all of which are still pending but have received preliminary affirmation. (Note: While dismissing some of San Francisco’s First Resort pregnancy care center’s claims, a judge has allowed its “equal protection” claim of viewpoint discrimination to proceed.)
Since the prc ordinance microburst between 2009-11, no other local or county government in the U.S. has been so obtuse as to follow NARAL down the financially painful primrose path.
If NARAL were so sure of its “investigations” and ordinance, it would offer to cover legal expenses. Not.
Tepayac was represented by the great attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
HOORAY!
HA ! Take THAT, NARAL !
Don’t mess with Pregnancy Centers !
Pamela, they have been trying to close the PRC’s for DECADES and they keep on increasing in number!
Any word about the SCOTUS case regarding bubble zones? I’m worried about that one.
The ADF are absolute heroes in the pro-life movement and should get a ton of credit for their work!
Phillymiss, there are three days left for the Supreme Court to issue rulings for this term, so expect a decision next week Monday or Thursday at 10:00 a.m., or the following Monday. From what I’ve read, there just might be enough new justices to strike down buffer zones, especially since Chief Justice John Roberts is big on free speech. It will be very close though. There are a lot of cases with very big implications due next week, for us the HHS Mandate will meet it’s fate too. That one will have some seriously visceral reverberations either way. Hold on to your hat!
“From what I’ve read, there just might be enough new justices to strike down buffer zones, especially since Chief Justice John Roberts is big on free speech. It will be very close though.”
From what I’ve heard, it seems that the Massachusetts bubble zone is basically dead, so we should expect a victory on that front. The only question is whether bubble zones as a whole will be struck down, or if they will just allow smaller ones.
Thanks Chris. I thought today was the last day. They (SCOTUS) always wait until the last days of their term to announce the controversial cases, then they quickly get out of Dodge. Can’t say that I blame them!
[…] life? And it’s not just the funding of life to which they object, as we have seen in their attacks on pregnancy resource centers. It seems to be the very existence of organizations offering alternatives to […]