Fri Mar 31, 2023 – 12:30 pm EDT
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Alliance Defending Freedom) — In settlement of a lawsuit that Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed on behalf of David Benham and members of two pro-life organizations who were arrested or cited for engaging in peaceful prayer and sidewalk counseling outside an abortion facility, Mecklenburg County officials have conceded that the First Amendment protects the pro-life citizens’ public advocacy.
As part of the settlement agreement, county officials acknowledged that “peaceful advocacy on public sidewalks and public streets is governed generally by First Amendment law regarding free speech in a traditional public forum.”
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Further, county officials stated that any future emergency order related to the COVID-19 pandemic will expressly allow outdoor religious gatherings and “activities of sidewalk prayer and related peaceful pro-life advocacy” that Benham, president of the non-profit, pro-life charity Cities4Life, and the other pro-life citizens, associated with the Christian ministry Love Life, were engaged in.
“The government can protect public health and safety and still respect the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms Americans have,” said ADF Senior
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