New York pro-life free speech case: witness Pearl Brady confesses to running fake Facebook page
The star witness in a federal lawsuit filed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman admitted in court that she created a fake Facebook page, pretending she was a pro-life Christian, to gather information on and entrap pro-life sidewalk counselors and preachers who appeared in front of the Choices Women’s Medical Center in Jamaica, New York.
Schneiderman seeks to punish pro-life sidewalk counselors who peacefully share the good news on public sidewalks. Liberty Counsel represents one of the 13 defendants, Scott Fitchett, Jr.
photo/Gerd Altmann
The witness, Pearl Brady, is an abortion clinic “escort” leader who is strongly pro-abortion. Brady admits she created the Facebook profile of Shelly Walker before the AG’s investigation began. She sent out hundreds of friend requests to pro-lifers and conservative groups throughout the country and even claimed to be a supporter of Ted Cruz and Father Frank Pavone, a pro-life Catholic priest. Brady used someone else’s photo she had found on the internet, listing her occupation as a bank teller and stating she was from Saginaw, Michigan, even posting weather reports from Saginaw.
When the AG’s office found out about the fake Facebook account during the investigation of this case, they simply told her not to delete it. The AG has done nothing to ensure that his investigation has not been tainted with “evidence” wrongfully collected through the deception of the abortion worker.
Attorney General Schneiderman’s lawsuit is based on the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) and similar New York laws. Enacted by Congress to prevent actual violence and physical obstruction of abortion facility entrances, Schneiderman is using FACE to shut down peaceful speech on a public sidewalk. In his press conference last year announcing the lawsuit, he said, “We are not a nation where you can choose your point of view,” and that pro-life Christians “run their mouths” with “unlawful, un-American rhetoric.” He called Christians’ efforts to counsel women considering abortion and to advocate for the rights of the unborn “horrifying” and “illegal.”
“The admission that this star witness created a fake Facebook account is just another ridiculous revelation in this frivolous lawsuit by New York’s attorney general,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “It is inexcusable that the highest legal officer of the State of New York would act as an agent of the abortion industry and attack the right of free speech peacefully conducted on public sidewalks,” said Staver.
