Wednesday August 4, 2010
Chicago Drops Charges against Arrested Pro-Lifer
By Peter J. Smith
CHICAGO, August 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The City of Chicago will not be pursuing charges against a pro-life advocate accused of violating the city’s “bubble-zone” ordinance by praying in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
Pro-life student Joseph Holland, a Northwestern University graduate student, was accused of violating a city ordinance passed in 2009 that prohibits individuals in the 50 foot radius of an abortion clinic from approaching within eight feet of its clients, without consent, “for the purpose of passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling.”
However witnesses and video footage confirmed that Holland kept to himself, praying peaceably next to the clinic entrance, and was not engaged in “disorderly conduct” as Planned Parenthood staffers alleged.
Police arrested Holland outside Planned Parenthood’s Near North Side facility on July 3, making him the first pro-life advocate arrested under the city’s controversial “bubble-zone” ordinance, which has been criticized by both pro-life advocates and the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as a violation of free speech rights.
By Tuesday afternoon, Holland’s attorneys with the Thomas More Society had secured the dismissal of all charges against him.
“We are pleased that the City of Chicago has dismissed these false and baseless charges against Joe Holland,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive director and legal counsel. “The First Amendment protects prayer on a public sidewalk in Chicago the same as in any other city in the country. We hope that the city will cease the suppression of pro-life speech under the ‘bubble zone’ ordinance and dismiss the lone remaining case, brought against David Avignone, who was arrested a few days after Joe.”
Avignone’s court date is set for August 30.
According to pro-life advocates with the Pro-Life Action League, police have previously misinterpreted the ordinance, getting their interpretation of the law from Planned Parenthood employees. In January, an officer told pro-life counselors that they could not come within eight feet of the Planned Parenthood doorway.
Again, in February one officer told sidewalk counselors not to come “within ten feet of the doorway … that’s panhandling.”
Pro-Life Action League’s projects coordinator, Corrina Gura, previously described the situation, saying that Planned Parenthood gives “the officers their version of what they wish the law said, then they ask the police to enforce their imaginary law.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Pro-Lifers Burst Planned Parenthood’s Inflated Version of Bubble Zone Law
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10063003.html
Rockford Pro-Lifers Fight ‘Bubble Zone’ Law Protecting Notorious Abortion Facility
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jan/10012713.html
Deluge of Pro-Life Protest after Chicago Bubble Zone Law Passes
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09100910.html
Bursting the Bubble: Pro-life Advocates Fight Chicago Law Aimed to Kill 40 Days for Life Vigil
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09100705.html