(Reprinted with permission from Life Legal Defense Foundation)
Easter comes a little earlier than usual this year, which means that the spring 40 Days for Life campaign is just around the corner. Depending on where you live, you might be standing for life in snow and rain for the next several weeks – or you might be in an abortion-free state!
But what you shouldn’t be is frightened. It is true that the Biden administration has been singling out pro-lifers for prosecution while turning a blind eye toward threats, vandalism, and arson directed at churches and pregnancy care centers. But the pro-lifers who have been convicted – including the six who were convicted in Tennessee last week — were not simply standing on the sidewalk praying and extending help and hope to pregnant women.
The pro-lifers in these cases decided to risk arrest by going onto private property and entering the buildings and offices where the killing centers were located. When there, they refused law enforcement orders to leave the property.
Whether they all actually violated the federal FACE Act by obstructing access seems dubious, but it is undisputed that they were all on private property and inside the buildings housing the abortion clinics.
Some sidewalk advocates are concerned that they may now be vulnerable to criminal charges for their pro-life work. BE NOT AFRAID! Your right to stand on a public sidewalk and sing, talk, hold signs, distribute leaflets, and engage in conversations with women entering clinics is unchanged.
See you on the sidewalk!