by Rusty Pugh
An attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy says an appeals court ruling in Colorado is a victory for pro-life supporters.
Wendy Faustin of Lakewood, Colorado, believes in defending the rights of unborn children. To show her commitment, she had made it a practice to stand on a highway overpass for one hour each month, holding a sign that read “Abortion Kills Children.” After repeated confrontations with police, she was cited for supposedly violating a city ordinance prohibiting the posting of signs, even though Mrs. Faustin’s sign was handheld. When the AFA Center for Law & Policy intervened, the charges were dropped.
However, attorney Mike DePrimo says the city would not guarantee that they would not cite her in the future. So the Center for Law & Policy filed suit against the City of Lakewood and the County of Denver. DePrimo and Faustin won, and the decision was recently upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“This case settles the well-settled principle that peaceful abortion protest is constitutionally protected, even on highway overpasses. Even though Mrs. Faustin had been repeatedly harassed by Denver police, she refused to surrender her First Amendment rights — she refused to abandon unborn babies. We greatly admire her courage.”
DePrimo says unfortunately, protest against abortion is not favored today due to so-called “political correctness.” He says it is increasingly necessary to file lawsuits to protect free-speech rights.
According to DePrimo, the only other case in the U.S. to address the issue of highway overpasses was in Norfolk, Virginia. A federal judge there also ruled that highways are traditional public forums for free speech.
The AFA Center for Law & Policy is the legal arm of the Mississippi-based American Family Association and is allied with the Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Arizona.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
