March 26, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thomas More Society attorneys have achieved a courtroom victory on behalf of an Alabama pro-life sidewalk counselor. Arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, 66-year-old Alison Harris was declared not guilty after a trial on March 16, 2018.
Harris, a frequent sidewalk counselor at the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives, was arrested on May 26, 2017, on the public walkway in front of the abortion clinic as she prayed and tried to persuade parents to choose life for their preborn children. The arresting officer had obtained a warrant at the request of a clinic employee for Harris' use of a megaphone fourteen days earlier. The megaphone had been repeatedly tested by city police to ensure that it was below the decibel limit allowed by the Huntsville City ordinance.
Megaphones are used by sidewalk counselors at the Huntsville abortion clinic, where, alongside a four-lane highway, abortion escorts use cow bells, car horns and loud-speakers to drown out the pro-life messages.
Thomas More Society Special counsel Sam McLure represented Harris at trial. “We were preparing for a retrial in a higher court.” explained McLure. “This abortion clinic is well known. Its owner has received ACLU's highest award for providing abortions. However, we were blessed with a good judge and a courtroom full of praying supporters, and the law was on our side.”
Read the court's not-guilty verdict document issued by the Municipal Court of Huntsville, Alabama in City of Huntsville v. Alison Harris on March 16, 2018, here.