Pedestrian avoiding abortion business water jet |
A trial is scheduled for two sidewalk counselors in Montgomery, Ala., who were charged with trespass when they stepped around a water jet that operators of an abortion business had aimed at the public sidewalk they were using.
Judge Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, is arguing through his Foundation for Moral Law that it's an abuse even to cite the men.
"The law is being abused to silence these men protesting the deprivation of the right to life, which is one of our unalienable rights given by God and recognized in the Declaration of Independence by our Founding Fathers," he said.
The trial for Jeshua Screws, the chaplain of the Alabama Constitution Party; and David Day, is set Sept. 21 in Montgomery Municipal Court.
The two men were in front of an abortion clinic trying to avoid a sprinkler that is used to spray pro-life speakers, according to a report from Moore's foundation, which is defending the men.
They were targeted by the water jet in front of Reproductive Health Services, the foundation said.
"As they often did before, the abortion clinic staff turned its single, oscillating sprinkler on and off several times, spraying a jet of water 20 feet across the entire length of the public sidewalk and onto the road, in an attempt to force the pro-life protesters off the sidewalk in front of the clinic," the foundation report said.
"When Mr. Screws and Mr. Day, trying to exercise freedom of speech and religion on public property, avoided the sprinkler by stepping behind the sprinkler head in the same manner, the abortion clinic owner had them arrested for trespass."
Ben DuPré, the foundation lawyer handling the case, said the business cannot force pro-life counselors off the public sidewalk and then claim they are violating the law.
"A public sidewalk is just that, it's public. Montgomery's abortion clinic does not have a right to spray people off the sidewalk because they don't like their message of saving life and finding hope in Jesus Christ," he said.
He said it's clear the sprinkler's design is not to water the lawn.
"The abortion clinic staff routinely turn the sprinkler on and off in an attempt to hit pro-life advocates standing on the public sidewalk. They even pull this stunt in the middle of winter causing ice to form on the sidewalk and street – a clear safety and traffic hazard for drivers and pedestrians.
"This is not about keeping their law green, it's about intimidating, harassing, and silencing those protesting the killing of innocent children," he said.
The foundation is a national non-profit legal group located in Montgomery. It is dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government.