The arrest of Angela Swagler and other pro-life protesters is the subject of a multiple-county civil rights lawsuit filed against police and other officials

A county in Maryland has agreed to halt enforcement of a sign ordinance cited when members of a team of pro-life protesters were arrested, shackled and strip-searched while expressing their opposition to abortion.

According to a statement from the Alliance Defense Fund, a consent agreement has been reached that will halt enforcement of the ordinance while its constitutionality is argued in federal court.

"It is unconstitutional to require small groups of Christians to obtain permits to exercise their First Amendment rights in a public area like the one involved in this case," ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot said. "Police used this permit requirement as part of their justification for the unacceptable treatment of our clients, who simply desired to share their pro-life message."

(Story continues below)

The enforcement suspension was outlined in an agreement approved by a federal judge hearing the dispute. It prohibits Harford County from requiring protesters with hand-held signs to get a permit first.

In August, a dozen police officers handcuffed peaceful participants in Defend Life's "Face the Truth" Pro-Life Tour and then denied them a reason for their arrests.

Three young female participants – including teenagers – were subjected to two rounds of strip searches after being charged with loitering, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a lawful order, charges which later were dropped.

WND reported at the time that the confrontation developed in Bel Air, Md., where attorney Daniel Cox, who is allied with the ADF, serves as local counsel.

"The truth of the matter is that our clients were heckled, arrested, imprisoned, shackled, and strip-searched twice for exercising their First Amendment rights," he said.

The protesters' lawsuit accuses Bel Air, seven police officials and Harford County of violating the rights of 18 pro-life advocates who were arrested when they held signs and shared their message along a public street.

The lawsuit explained police first ordered the pro-lifers off of county property, and later when they complied and moved to city property, swooped down on them in seven marked police cars, shackled and jailed them, and performed the strip searches.

"This incident paints an ugly picture of the state of religious freedom and free speech in American today," Theriot said at the time. "The state shouldn't prosecute Christians for expressing their beliefs on important social issues, nor deny them their constitutional rights."

The lawsuit by the pro-life protesters, some of whom also are represented by the Thomas More Society of Chicago and the American Catholic Lawyers Association, named as defendants the town and the county, as well as officers Terrence Sheridan, Donald Ravadge, Mark Zulauf and Armand Dupre and three state patrol troopers.

Among the arrested are Angela Swagler, 18, Elizabeth Walsh, 20, and Joan Walsh, 18.

 

 

---

Related special offers:

"Struggling for Life: How our Tax Dollars and Twisted Science Target the Unborn"

"The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom"

Get Jerome Corsi's "The Obama Nation," autographed by the author, exclusively from WND's online store.

Get the magnetized bumper sticker that is sure to be a political collector's item no matter how the election turns out: "Defeat Osama, Obama and Chelsea's Mama"

Subscribe to Jerome Corsi's new weekly economic newsletter, Red Alert, for one year and, for a limited time get "The Obama Nation" free. (This offer applies only to annual subscriptions for $99.)

Get your NObama magnetized bumper sticker exclusively from WND's online store

Find out why you shouldn't vote for Obama or McCain this year in Joseph Farah's "None of the Above"

Get Whistleblower magazine's exclusive special report on Obama for just $7.95

---

Previous stories:

Cops strip-search 'loitering' pro-lifers

World's largest sign protests abortion outside DNC

Unearthed transcript shows Obama backed infanticide

Obama changes abortion story, again

Obama abortion support exceeds even NARAL's

Obama goes ballistic over Corsi best-seller

Abortion clinic prayer vigils coming to 100 cities

Abortions linked to breast cancer again

Study of abortion-cancer link 'meaningless'

Abortion study results blamed on 'ideology'

Studies denying abortion-cancer link debunked

Glamour, Redbook blasted on abortion-cancer link

Abortion, breast cancer linked in UK

Judgment awarded in abortion-breast cancer case

Study: Tell women about abortion-breast cancer link

Can doctors be sued over abortion?

Abortion-cancer link goes on trial