{"id":285013,"date":"2023-02-11T15:29:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T21:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=285013"},"modified":"2023-02-09T18:17:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T00:17:52","slug":"church-planned-parenthood-ordered-pay-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/church-planned-parenthood-ordered-pay-1m\/","title":{"rendered":"Church gathering near Planned Parenthood ordered to pay almost $1M"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A church that gathers outside a Planned Parenthood abortion facility has been ordered to pay $960,000 because its demonstrations “interfere with patient care.”<\/p>\n

In December, a judge fined the church<\/a>\u00a0in Spokane, Washington, after he determined that the group’s meetings\u00a0\u201ccreated an increased risk of hypertension, increased pain, and a variety of psychiatric symptoms,” impacting women visiting the abortion facility. Now, the church has also been ordered to pay $850,000 in addition to the original $110,000, to cover Planned Parenthood’s legal fees. The abortion giant had been embroiled in a legal battle<\/a> with the church since 2020.<\/p>\n

The church’s founder, Pastor Ken Peters, told The Spokesman-Review<\/a> that his insurance company will be covering the fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re there to exercise our First Amendment rights. We weren\u2019t trying to stop abortions,\u201d Peters said. \u201cWe were there to peacefully protest because of, what we feel like, is the murder of human lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling was condemned by\u00a0Esther Ripplinger, executive director of the pro-life group Human Life of Washington, an affiliate of\u00a0the National Right to Life Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is an attack on pro-life, period,\u201d Ripplinger told Catholic News Agency<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s an attack on life and it\u2019s unfair. And it\u2019s singled out. These are just trumped-up charges and I hope that they fight it to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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She added, \u201cThese are people who engage and mobilize other people who believe that abortion is wrong, and so they have the right to do that, to assemble together on public property. Absolutely no laws were broken here. This is really just a witch hunt against the organizers and against what they believe, and it\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n