U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CONTINUES TO PER/PROSECUTE PRO-LIFERS

WASHINGTON, June 12 (LSN) – On Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department launched a lawsuit against 17 pro-  lifers, including Operation Rescue national director Flip Benham. The suit, filed under Clinton’s 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, claims the pro-lifers blocked access to the Capitol Women’s Center abortuary in Washington in January. The case marks the 17th time Clinton’s FACE law has been used in what pro-lifers feel amounts to a denial of their first-amendment rights to free speech.  Rev. Benham has endured particularly strong legal persecution in recent months. Last week, he and another pro-life demonstrator, Tom McGlade, were arrested on allegations they violated a temporary Orlando city injunction which forbids pro-lifers to pray, sing and use amplification devices within 1,000 feet of abortuaries.  In April, Rev. Benham spent his 50th birthday behind bars, while serving a six-month jail sentence for organizing a protest at a public high school in Lynchburg. In February, a federal judge in Dallas upheld a $10 million judgment against him and other pro-life protesters for picketing outside an abortionist’s home. Benham was ordered to pay $170,000 of the award.