Maine pastor Brian Ingalls targeted by attorney general for speaking ‘gospel too loud’ at pro-life rally
A pastor in Maine is being prosecuted by the state’s attorney general for speaking his pro-life message “too loudly” outside an abortion facility at a pro-life rally
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills claims that Pastor Brian Ingalls, 26, was loud enough to be heard inside an abortion facility during its “counseling sessions.”
The complaint states that a policeman warned Ingalls to stop being so loud during the incident on October 23. Mills said citizens have a right to protest, but the Maine Civil Rights Act considers it a crime to be so loud.
Citizens “are not permitted to disrupt another citizen’s health care services,” she said.
Mills’ lawsuit would impose a $5,000 fine and ban Ingalls from coming within 50 feet of any Planned Parenthood office.
The Thomas More Law Center says the case is baseless and politically concocted, first that the complaint was brought to her attention by Planned Parenthood and is designed to squash free speech.
photo Josh Janssen via Flickr
TMLC attorney Erin Kuenzig called the suit “meritless” and said it is designed to circumvent sidewalk counselors’ legal protections.
“They’re trying to claim that it’s some kind of safety concern that he was preaching the Bible on a public sidewalk,” Kuenzig said.
“The Attorney General’s actions in this case are a blatant abuse of her powers,” said the group’s president, Richard Thompson. “Preaching has now been deemed a civil rights violation by the Maine Attorney General.”
Portland recently settled a pro-life lawsuit against its 39-foot “buffer zone” around abortion facilities, also brought by the Thomas More Law Center. A federal judge said the city must pay $56,500 in penalties and legal fees for violating the First Amendment rights of sidewalk counselors.
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot bubble zone around abortion facilities violated the Constitution‘s right of free speech.
“The Attorney General’s baseless pro-abortion tactic seeks to silence pro-life speech,” Kuenzig said. “Such biased action…corrupts the entire justice system.”
Incriminating video demonstrates where preaching turns to targeted disruption