PORTLAND, Maine, March 31, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Maine Attorney General is suing a man for protesting too loudly outside a Planned Parenthood.
Maine alleges that prolifer Brian Ingalls' preaching “interfered with the delivery of health services” on October 23 of last year, violating the Maine Civil Rights Act. The complaint says Ingalls was told to stop by a Portland policeman.
The Maine Civil Rights Act includes a section that says women seeking abortion, or any person receiving medical services, can do so without disruptions of loud noises.
Ingalls' attorney, Erin Kuenzig of the Thomas More Law Center, asked that the case be dropped because it violates Ingalls' free speech rights, and because the law is unconstitutionally vague. Last week Superior Court Justice Lance Walker ruled against Ingalls, refusing to dismiss the case. The judge will, however, listen to Ingalls' arguments that the Maine Civil Rights Act “has been enforced selectively in a viewpoint discriminatory against Mr. Ingalls.”
Kuenzig charged, “Mr. Ingalls was specifically targeted due to his message.” She vowed that she “will show just how unconstitutional the state's actions are.”
Maine wants a permanent injunction against Ingalls to keep him at least fifty feet away from any Planned Parenthood, a $5,000 fine, and a ruling that the Maine Civil Rights Act was violated.
“The City of Portland and the Maine Attorney General are using the Maine Civil Right Act as a weapon to silence Pro-Life speech in order to promote the abortion industry,” Attorney Kate Oliveri, Trial Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, told LifeSiteNews. “This is a blatant disregard for constitutionally protected speech and the Thomas More Law Center will defend the rights of individuals like Pastors Brian Ingalls against this unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
“The ruling on the motion to dismiss is a false victory for the Attorney General. It relies on a citation wrongly attributed to the Supreme Court and thoroughly misstates the law,” the Thomas More Law Center attorney added.
A related lawsuit was filed by pro-lifer Andrew March, who is suing the Attorney General, the city of Portland, and some police, after he was repeatedly told to speak softer while protesting outside Planned Parenthood.
March asked at what volume he could protest, but was only told he must speak so quietly that he can't be heard in the abortion business.
Both Ingalls and March are leaders at Cell 53 Church in Lewiston.
In 2013, Portland passed a law creating a 39-foot “buffer zone” around Planned Parenthood, but when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a Massachusetts buffer zone unconstitutional in 2014, the city rescinded it.
A hearing on a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the noise section is set for April 4.
Watch Brian Ingalls doing outreach at Portland's Planned Parenthood abortion facility: