Pro-Lifers Challenge Ordinance Barring Noise Around Health Care Facilities

A federal lawsuit was filed yesterday against the city of West Palm Beach, Florida by two anti-abortion activists challenging the city ordinance that prohibits shouting and all amplified sound within 100 feet of the property line of a property housing a health care facility.  The complaint (full text) in Pine v. City of West Palm Beach, Florida, (SD FL, filed 6/6/2013), alleges that plaintiffs, one of whom is the founder of a pro-life ministry, have for many years carried sings and used sound amplification devices at a West Palm Beach women's center that performs abortions. The suit alleges that the ordinance is an overbroad regulation of speech; that selective enforcement of it amounts to a viewpoint-based restriction; and that the ordinance and the application of it "substantially burden Plaintiffs' free exercise of their religious beliefs by prohibiting Plaintiffs from fulfilling their Biblical mandate to promulgate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and evangelize others." Liberty counsel issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.