A North Carolina county has agreed to pay a pro-life ministry $15,000 in attorneys’ fees as part of a settlement involving arrests of several citizens outside an abortion clinic, according to a legal group that represents the ministry.
The settlement between Guilford County and the pro-life ministry Love Life ends part of a controversy that began on March 28 and 30, 2020, during the early weeks of the pandemic. On those days, police arrested Love Life members for allegedly violating COVID-19 restrictions outside A Woman’s Choice abortion clinic in Greensboro. The members were praying and conducting sidewalk counseling, although they insisted they were following CDC recommendations for social distancing.
Alliance Defending Freedom sued the county and the city of Greensboro on behalf of the ministry and the members, asserting that the police’s actions violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and religious liberty.
“The government can concern itself with health and safety and still respect the constitutionally protected freedoms guaranteed to citizens,” said ADF senior counsel Denise Harle. “From the beginning, this case has been about government silencing people because it didn’t like what they had to say. If abortion businesses could stay open to perform elective abortions during the pandemic, Christians abiding by health and safety guidelines should certainly be allowed to pray outside.