WASHINGTON, Apr 17 (LSN.ca) - On Monday the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal brought by the Legal Center for the Defense of Life, which was arguing that portions of Clinton’s 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was unconstitutional.
The case initially involved over 20 pro-life picketers who were arrested by police over three separate incidents between 1996 and 1997, which took place outside a partial birth abortion clinic in Englewood New Jersey, just outside New York city. Edward J. Gilhooly, Executive Director of Legal Center for the Defense of Life told LifeSite that most of the pro-lifers were praying and there was no violence involved. Gilhooly also noted that the particular abortuary was known to commit some 1500 partial-birth abortions every year.
While all the charges against the pro-lifers were dropped, a judge did order a payment of $5000 total to be paid by all the defendants together. The federal Justice Department (under Clinton) was outraged that their request for a restricted zone of no-protest and additional fines was not granted. The legal counsel for the pro-lifers initiated the current appeal in an attempt to restrict the federal government’s stifling of legitimate pro-life protest.
See the coverage from the Washington Post at: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/nation/courts/A23348-2001Apr16.html