FORT WAYNE, IN, June 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A pro-life crisis pregnancy center won a major victory on Wednesday, as a panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the city was wrong to bar the group from advertising on city buses.
Women's Health Link was denied the right to advertise on the bus system of Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the grounds that Citilink does not accept ideological or political advertisements.
The group sued the city in April 2014.
Judge Richard Posner wrote the decision on behalf of a three-judge panel, calling the policy “unjustifiable,” “arbitrary and discriminatory,” and “groundless discrimination against constitutionally protected speech.”
Their decision overturned the decision of U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. in sometimes acerbic terms. The panel ruled:
It [the proposed CPC advertisement] is a public service announcement that does not so much as hint at advocating or endorsing any political, moral, or religious position. Even if one goes behind the ad to the organization’s website, one must go to the mission statement and the “Diaper Project” pages for an indication of a pro‐life position. Yet the district judge granted summary judgment in favor of Citilink. He shouldn’t have.
Further, Citilink had run advertisements for the United Way which, Judge Posner noted, has financially supported Planned Parenthood.
Legal counsel for the pro-life women's center said the decision set an important precedent against government limiting free speech.
“A government shouldn’t be censoring ads from a group like Women’s Health Link when it is running nearly identical ads from other groups, such as The United Way. The 7th Circuit’s decision rightly understands that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all people, regardless of their political, moral, or religious views,” said Kevin Theriot, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, who argued the case before the court earlier this month.
“The city of Fort Wayne’s bus system has a responsibility, like all other government entities, to ensure equal access to community advertising forums that it creates.”