A group of North Carolina pro-life activists cited for violating COVID-19 emergency orders while protesting outside an abortion clinic has won a settlement protecting them from future arrests.
Greensboro police arrested eight members of the Love Life Christian ministry in March and April 2020 for violating a broadly worded emergency proclamation during sidewalk protests. Attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group, filed a federal free speech lawsuit on their behalf.
In a press release this week, the group announced that Greensboro city officials had admitted to citing the activists for their “exercise of constitutionally protected First Amendment rights.”
As part of the settlement, the Alliance Defending Freedom said the city has agreed to uphold the protesters’ rights “in any future proclamation order related to a public-health emergency like COVID-19.”
“Clearly, this case was never about public health and safety,” Denise Harle, ADF senior counsel, said in a statement. “It was about the government silencing people because it didn’t like what they had to say.”
A Greensboro spokesman declined to comment on the settlement. But he emphasized in an email that it did not include any “money being paid out” by the city.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.