Pro-Lifers Free to Speak in Birmingham, Alabama
by Staff
January 10, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., (christiansunite.com) -- Pro-life advocates Jeff White and the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust were victorious this week when the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, dismissed a lawsuit against them seeking to prevent White and others from peacefully praying, holding signs and engaging in oral communication on the public sidewalk outside the New Woman All Women abortion clinic (NWAW) in Birmingham.In October 2010, after the Survivors, represented by Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF), won an injunction prohibiting the Birmingham police from interfering with their free speech activities, NWAW countered by attempting to enforce an inapplicable federal injunction against White, the Survivors and other pro-life groups. For over a decade, the clinic and police had been using this injunction to intimidate local pro-lifers from engaging in sidewalk counseling on the public sidewalk. Initially NWAW was successful in obtaining an injunction against Mr. White and other pro-lifers. However, the injunction was a short-lived victory for NWAW when days later it was set aside by Circuit Court Judge Ramsey.
This week's ruling by Judge Ramsey quashed any hope of victory for NWAW in state court, with the court stating in its order of dismissal that jurisdiction belongs to the federal court.
White and the Survivors were represented by Birmingham attorney Trenton Garmon, with the support of LLDF. LLDF Legal Director Catherine Short, stated, "The NWAW clinic is going to have to get used to a new reality: pro-life sidewalk counselors bringing their life-saving message directly to women in crisis pregnancies."
As Mr. Garmon predicted when the injunction was set aside, "This is America, pro-life citizens have the right to stand on the public sidewalk and freely speak in opposition to abortion, and they will!"
Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a non-profit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens, committed to the sanctity of human life.
