Pregnancy Center’s Pro-Life Message Will Not Be Silenced in Indiana
An Indiana pregnancy center won a victory for the pro-life message Wednesday when the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Fort Wayne city-bus system “unfairly censored” its pro-life ads.
LifeNews reports, that the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the pregnancy center—Women’s Health Link—celebrated the decision.
“A government shouldn’t be censoring ads from a group like Women’s Health Link when it is running nearly identical ads from other groups, such as The United Way. The 7th Circuit’s decision rightly understands that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all people, regardless of their political, moral, or religious views,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who argued before the 7th Circuit earlier this month. “The city of Fort Wayne’s bus system has a responsibility, like all other government entities, to ensure equal access to community advertising forums that it creates.”
Conservative Review’s Nate Madden reported on ADF’s lawsuit earlier this June.
According to the complaint from ADF, Citilink — Fort Wayne’s bus system — ran afoul of the First Amendment in its dealings with Women’s Health Link when it refused to ruse a series of ads “due to Plaintiff’s life-affirming viewpoint regarding the promotion of public health, association with a pro-life group, and alleged discussion of ‘controversial issues’ on its website, which constitutes unlawful viewpoint discrimination.”
The 7th Circuit’s ruling overturned a previous ruling from the U.S. District Court that sided with Citilink.
According to the ADF, the decision recognized that Women’s Health Link’s ad “complies fully with the conditions set forth in Citilink’s rules,” and found that the ad “is a public service announcement that does not so much as hint at advocating or endorsing any political, moral, or religious position… Yet the district judge granted summary judgment in favor of Citilink. He shouldn’t have.”
Women’s Health Link provides pregnant women with alternatives to abortion through counseling and material support. (For more from the author of “Pregnancy Center’s Pro-Life Message Will Not Be Silenced in Indiana” please click HERE)
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