{"id":98311,"date":"2016-07-29T15:11:27","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T19:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=98311"},"modified":"2016-07-29T15:11:27","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T19:11:27","slug":"australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Pro-life activist John Preston of Queensland was fined<\/a> $3,000 earlier this week after being convicted on\u00a0charges stemming from an April pro-life protest in the Australian state of Tasmania. Preston, along with Raymond and Penny Stallard, were charged with violating a 2013 state\u00a0law which declared protesting within 150 metres of an abortion\u00a0clinic illegal.<\/p>\n

Preston, along with the Stallards, argue that the protest ban violates religious freedom and political expression, calling the law “unconstitutional.”\u00a0The defendants’\u00a0lawyer argued that the case presented an important test of the constitutional validity on the protest ban. However, the court\u00a0chose to side with prosecutors.\u00a0\u00a0Raymond and Penny Stallard were sent home with what basically amounts to a warning (depending on\u00a0“good behavior” for\u00a0the next 12 months), but Magistrate Catherine Rheinberger\u00a0chose to levy a fine on Preston, who\u00a0reportedly has\u00a0been convicted\u00a0on similar charges\u00a0in other states.<\/p>\n

ABC reports that the case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania\u00a0since the\u00a02013 enactment of the\u00a0state’s ban on protests near abortion clinics. Preston was charged with similar offenses in Tasmania in 2014, but charges were dropped as prosecutors realized they did not have a case.<\/p>\n

Preston says he intends to appeal the court’s decision and continue to conduct peaceful protests, although not\u00a0in Tasmania “until this matter is resolved.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pro-life activist John Preston of Queensland was fined $3,000 earlier this week after being convicted on\u00a0charges stemming from an April pro-life protest in the Australian state of Tasmania. Preston, along with Raymond and Penny Stallard, were charged with violating a 2013 state\u00a0law which declared protesting within 150 metres of an abortion\u00a0clinic illegal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":307,"featured_media":98437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.\" \/>\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\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Australian_flag_fullmast.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=\"Danny David\" \/>\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=\"Danny David\" \/>\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\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Danny David\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a6ce08f7970f3686ab5e5ab1d26eaed2\"},\"headline\":\"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"International\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\",\"name\":\"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a6ce08f7970f3686ab5e5ab1d26eaed2\",\"name\":\"Danny David\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/552f2b5bb937e023c1aa22f04421da4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/552f2b5bb937e023c1aa22f04421da4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Danny David\"},\"description\":\"Danny is a musician and writer. He likes people and hates writing about himself in third person.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/commanderwallace.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/dburton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center","description":"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center","og_description":"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":672,"height":372,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Australian_flag_fullmast.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Danny David","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danny David","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/"},"author":{"name":"Danny David","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a6ce08f7970f3686ab5e5ab1d26eaed2"},"headline":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center","datePublished":"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/"},"wordCount":225,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["International"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/","name":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-29T19:11:27+00:00","description":"The case represents the first conviction of a pro-life protester in Tasmania since the 2013 enactment of the state's ban on protests near abortion clinics.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/australian-pro-life-activist-fined-for-protesting-near-abortion-center\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Australian pro-life activist fined for protesting near abortion center"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a6ce08f7970f3686ab5e5ab1d26eaed2","name":"Danny David","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/552f2b5bb937e023c1aa22f04421da4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/552f2b5bb937e023c1aa22f04421da4c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Danny David"},"description":"Danny is a musician and writer. He likes people and hates writing about himself in third person.","sameAs":["http:\/\/commanderwallace.com"],"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/dburton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98438,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98311\/revisions\/98438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}