NEW YORK, May 5, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A court ruling in March criminalized the distribution of pro-life leaflets at abortion centers and restricted interactions between pro-life activists and patients or “escorts,” calling them a “physical obstruction.”
WND reported that a panel of New York judges has restricted pro-life advocacy in front of abortion clinics under the federal FACE act. Originally, the FACE act merely prohibited blocking abortion facility doorways. On March 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled to expand the act to include any “physical obstruction.”
According to the Thomas More Society, a law firm that handles pro-life cases, including pro-life activist David Daleiden’s case, this new expansion of the act forbids “approaching patients and attempting to hand them a leaflet” on the grounds that this might cause them to “deviate slightly from their path” and therefore be delayed by “one second.”
Furthermore, it is forbidden to inadvertently cause a patient to have to walk around a life-advocate as a result of the sidewalk leading to the entryway being cramped. Additionally, the act of “delivering a leaflet to the driver of a vehicle who has voluntarily stopped the car and rolled down the window to communicate with the life-advocate” is considered criminal.
Finally, a conversation with a patient or an ‘escort’ is considered “harassment” and a “use of force” if the patient even implicitly shows they do not “welcome the message.”
In response, the Thomas More Society started a petition to overturn the ruling. The decision “represents the broadest restriction of First Amendment expression ever imposed under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” the petition states, “and threatens vast amounts of core First Amendment activity.”
“If allowed to stand,” the petition continues, “the panel opinion will criminalize a wide swath of protected speech and expression, including holding signs on public sidewalks, attempting to distribute leaflets, and engaging in consensual conversations with vehicle passengers.”
This recent ruling is a continuation of the attacks against pro-life groups in New York. In 2017, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman labeled peaceful pro-life advocacy as “harassment” and filed a lawsuit against Pastor Griepp and nine members of his congregation.
Schneiderman petitioned the government to restrict their advocacy under the FACE act. However, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Stephen Crampton explained, “The FACE Act specifically exempts constitutionally protected advocacy from its prohibitions.” Therefore, Schneiderman’s request was denied.
The Vatican has announced its fifth International "Health" Conference on "Exploring the Mind, Body & Soul," to take place between May 6-8, and nearly everything about the conference is rotten -- morally, scientifically and culturally.
Incredibly, the conference organizers have listed huge numbers of globalist and abortion-promoting speakers such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, vaccine developers, Mormon elders, pro-abortion Chelsea Clinton, population control advocate Jane Goodall, a New Age activist, a prominent UK Muslim scholar, and pro-abortion American actress Cindy Crawford, among others.
The logo for the conference is a circle of people linking hands, colored in the tones of the LGBT rainbow flag, and positioned next to the crossed keys and Papal tiara of the Pontiff. In the ten goals listed for the conference, the Pontifical Council for Culture makes no reference to God or the Catholic Church.
The organization and promotion of this conference is beyond an outrage, it is a closer to a sacrilege (also outrageous!).
Indeed, of the conference, Archbishop Viganò has said that the Holy See is "making itself the servant of the New World Order." [More below about Arbp Viganò's reaction to the conference...]
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition urging the Vatican to CANCEL this desperately wrong-headed appeasement to the secular world disguised as a "health conference."
114 speakers are set to appear at the event, including prominent and diverse names such as:
- The CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna, the former of which produces abortion pills;
- The Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Francis Collins, who advocates using fetal tissue in research projects;
- Chelsea Clinton, a strong advocate for abotion;
- The head of Google Health, David Feinberg;
- And, Dr. Anthony Fauci from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose advice to government officials played a major role in shutting down American churches last year.
These "VIP" speakers are also joined at the Vatican conference by the following: United Nations representative and conservationist Jane Goodall, who supports population control; new age activist Deepak Chopra; rock guitarist Joe Perry; Mormon Elder William K. Jackson; executive chair of the British Board of Scholars and Imams, Shaykh Dr. Asim Yusuf; pro-abortion model Cindy Crawford; and, by Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, who has firmly aligned himself with the globalist, liberal elite, by censoring conservative voices on his platform.
The sheer number of speakers holding anti-Catholic views has sparked a firestorm of well-deserved criticism.
And, in an letter published by LifeSiteNews, Archbishop Viganò roundly condemns this conference and, moreover, the infidelity to the Church's perennial teaching. Here is a brief excerpt (read the whole letter by clicking on this link):
"...The Holy See has deliberately renounced the supernatural mission of the Church, making itself the servant of the New World Order and Masonic globalism in an antichristic counter-magisterium.
The same Roman Dicasteries, occupied by people ideologically aligned with Jorge Mario Bergoglio [i.e. Pope Francis] and protected and promoted by him, now continue unrestrained in their implacable work of demolishing Faith, Morals, ecclesiastical discipline, and monastic and religious life, in an effort as vain as it is unprecedented to transform the Bride of Christ into a philanthropic association enslaved to the Strong Powers.
The result is the super-imposition over the true Church of a sect of heretical and depraved Modernists who are intent on legitimizing adultery, sodomy, abortion, euthanasia, idolatry, and any perversion of the intellect and will. The true Church is now eclipsed, denied and discredited by her very Pastors, betrayed even by the one who occupies the highest Throne."
The fact that there is so much anti-Catholicism (i.e., anti-truth) held by so many of the speakers makes it impossible to ask for the organizers to simply disinvite disreputable speakers.
That is why we are urging the Vatican to CANCEL this anti-life, anti-truth, anti-Catholic, anti-health "health conference" altogether!
Please SIGN and SHARE this urgent petition asking the Vatican to CANCEL its fifth International "Health" Conference on "Exploring the Mind, Body & Soul."
This conference contains such a high concentration of poison for the Faith and the faithful that is should be canceled, not only for the contents itself, but also for the grave scandal it will (and is, already) cause.
After SIGNING and SHARING, please take a minute to contact the following Church authorities to politely, but firmly, voice your dismay and displeasure at the anti-God, anti-life and anti-faith conference which the Vatican has scheduled for the beginning of May.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi - Head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [+39] 06 6989 3811
His Excellency Archbishop Christophe Pierre - Papal Nuncio for the United States
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 202-333-7121
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Viganò on Vatican ‘health’ conference with Fauci: Holy See is ‘making itself the servant of the New World Order’' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/vigano-on-vatican-health-conference-with-fauci-holy-see-is-making-itself-the-servant-of-the-new-world-order
'Vatican hosting Fauci, Chelsea Clinton, Pfizer CEO, Big Tech oligarchs at ‘health’ conference' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-to-host-conference-featuring-covid-jab-developers-big-tech-leaders-fauci-and-chelsea-clinton
Photo Credit: HTTPS://VATICANCONFERENCE2021.ORG/
The Thomas More Society continued to defend the pro-life group throughout their legal battles. In one instance, a witness fabricated a story of being harassed by members of the church, but her story was proven to be false.
The Thomas More Society will continue to defend the right to legally advocate in front of abortion clinics. They are currently appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn this act.