{"id":77018,"date":"2015-10-14T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T19:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=77018"},"modified":"2015-10-14T16:18:40","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T20:18:40","slug":"legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomasmore.org\/news\/thomas-more-law-center-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-free-speech-in-portland\/\">sided with<\/a> Thomas More Law Center and pro-lifers in ruling that a buffer zone around a local Planned Parenthood clinic in Portland, Maine, violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>The 2013 ordinance required pro-life protesters and sidewalk counselors to stay 39 feet from any of the building&#8217;s entrances, exits, or driveway. In response, Thomas More filed a lawsuit on behalf of the free speech rights of pro-life activists, including Daniela and Marguerite Fitzgerald and Leslie Sneddon.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->&#8220;Close proximity to the abortion clinic permits them to speak to women considering abortion in a normal, conversational tone, and to offer them information about alternatives including adoption, as well as financial and emotional support,&#8221; Thomas More explains.<\/p>\n<p>The proceedings coincided with the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously <a href=\"\/news\/breaking-pro-life-victory-as-massachusetts-buffer-zone-law-struck-down\/\">striking down<\/a> Massachusetts&#8217;s 35-foot buffer zone law in June 2014, though the City of Portland refused to recognize the decision as requiring them to relent on its own restriction. Just last week, the city\u00a0finally admitted it violated pro-lifers&#8217; free speech rights and agreed to pay them damages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe City of Portland enacted its ordinance because it didn\u2019t like the message pro-lifers were communicating outside of the City\u2019s Planned Parenthood abortion clinic,&#8221; Thomas More attorney Erin Kuenzig commented. &#8220;There was never any legitimate reason for banning peaceful, law-abiding citizens from using the entire public sidewalk surrounding the downtown building that houses Planned Parenthood. Hopefully, this judgment will deter the City from trampling the constitutional rights of its citizens in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen has sided with Thomas More Law Center and pro-lifers in ruling that a buffer zone around a local Planned Parenthood clinic in Portland, Maine, violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The 2013 ordinance required pro-life protesters and sidewalk counselors to stay 39 feet from any of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":77023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473],"tags":[19,2580,2508,909,3794,2903,14,4888,1001,2559],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Judge Torresen sided w Thomas More Law Center &amp; pro-lifers in ruling that a buffer zone around a Planned Parenthood in Portland violates the 1st Amendment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Judge Torresen sided w Thomas More Law Center &amp; pro-lifers in ruling that a buffer zone around a Planned Parenthood in Portland violates the 1st Amendment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-14T19:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-14T20:18:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/buffer-zone.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"372\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-14T19:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-14T20:18:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"buffer zones\",\"censorship\",\"free speech\",\"lawsuits\",\"Maine\",\"Planned Parenthood\",\"Portland\",\"sidewalk counseling\",\"Thomas More Law Center\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\",\"name\":\"Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-14T19:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-14T20:18:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"Judge Torresen sided w Thomas More Law Center & pro-lifers in ruling that a buffer zone around a Planned Parenthood in Portland violates the 1st Amendment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/legal-group-stops-planned-parenthood-from-silencing-pro-life-speech-in-maine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal group stops Planned Parenthood from silencing pro-life speech in Maine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; 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Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. 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