Latest news with #FreedomofAccesstoClinicEntrancesAct
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Chrisleys join Tennessee list of those pardoned by Trump this year, here are the others
Todd and Julie Chrisley recently received the promise of freedom thanks to a pardon announced by President Donald Trump. The couple, known for their Tennessee-based reality series "Chrisley Knows Best" and for their very public trial and convictions on bank fraud and tax evasion, are expected to receive full pardons from Trump after their original convictions in 2022. The couple joins a list of 12 other people convicted in Tennessee whom President Trump pardoned. Here is a list of those who received a pardon from the president this year. In 2025, President Trump pardoned 12 people convicted in Tennessee. Most of those pardoned were part of a group of anti-abortion protestors who traveled from across the country to block the entrance to a reproductive health clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in 2021. These protestors were convicted for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which was established in 1994 to prohibit anyone from preventing a person from accessing an abortion clinic. Of the twelve pardoned in the state, only four lived in Tennessee: Coleman Boyd of Bolton, Mississippi, was sentenced for conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services and violation of the FACE Act. He was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from his five-year probation sentence, conditioned upon six months of home detention. He was convicted in January 2024. Caroline Davis of Michigan pleaded guilty in October 2023 to conspiracy to interfere with access to clinic entrances, aiding and abetting interference with access to clinic entrances, and interference with access to clinics. She was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from three years' probation and one year's nonreporting probation. Eva Edl of Aiken, South Carolina, was sentenced for violating the FACE Act, conspiracy against rights and clinic access obstruction. She was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from her three-year probation sentence. She was convicted in April 2024. Chester Gallagher, of Lebanon, Tennessee, was sentenced for conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services and violation of the FACE Act. He was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from 16 months' imprisonment and three years' supervised release. He was convicted in January 2024. Dennis Green, of Cumberland, Virginia, was sentenced for conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services and violation of the FACE Act. He was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from three years' supervised release, conditioned upon six months of home detention. He was convicted in January 2024. Heather Idoni of Michigan was convicted of conspiracy against rights, violating the FACE Act and obstructing clinic access in January 2024. She was sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment and 36 months' supervised release. Idoni was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025. Brian Kelsey of Germantown, Tennessee, was pardoned on March 11, 2025, from his 21 months' imprisonment and three years' supervised release sentence. In 2023, Kelsey was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and aiding and abetting the acceptance of excessive contributions. Paul Place of Centerville, Tennessee, was convicted of violating the FACE Act in April 2024. Place was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from his three-year probation sentence. Paul Vaughn, of Centerville, Tennessee, was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services and violation of the FACE Act in January 2024. He was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from his sentence of three years' supervised release, conditioned upon six months' home confinement. Calvin Zastrow, of Michigan, was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services, violation of the FACE Act and clinic access obstruction. He was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025, from his sentence of six months' imprisonment; three years' supervised release, conditioned upon six months' home confinement. He was convicted in January 2024. Eva Zastrow of Dover, Arkansas, was initially sentenced to three years' probation, but it was subsequently vacated and dismissed. Zastrow was convicted of conspiracy to obstruct access to a clinic providing reproductive health services, violation of the FACE Act and clinic access obstruction in April 2024. She was pardoned on Jan. 23, 2025. James Zastrow of Eldon, Missouri, was convicted of violating the FACE Act in April 2024. Zastow was pardoned from his three-year probation sentence on Jan. 23, 2025. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Who has Trump pardoned? Chrisleys join Tennessee list
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Trump chipped away at abortion access in his first 100 days
President Trump steadily chipped away at abortion access during the first 100 days of his second term. Trump campaigned on leaving abortion decisions to the states, and has so far made no push to outlaw the procedure on a national level. But since he returned to office in January, he and his administration have taken steps to support anti-abortion activists and restrict access to abortion care not only in the United States, but around the world. Here are four moves the Trump administration has made on abortion so far in the president's second term. Three days after returning to the White House, Trump signed an executive order pardoning 23 anti-abortion protesters, some of whom were convicted of violating a federal law meant to protect abortion clinics from obstruction and threats. The law, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, was passed in 1994 when crimes against abortion providers were on the rise. 'They should not have been prosecuted. Many of them are elderly people,' Trump told reporters while signing the order. 'This is a great honor to sign this.' Trump's pardons included a group of protesters convicted of forcing their way into an abortion clinic in the Washington, D.C., area and blockading the entrance in 2020. Protesters livestreamed the blockade on social media for several hours before they were arrested. Abortion clinics have expressed concern that the pardons will spark an uptick in protests and threats of violence towards patients and workers. In late January, the president reinstated a controversial policy that bars U.S. foreign aid recipients from discussing abortion. The Mexico City Policy, introduced during the second Reagan administration, has been rescinded by every Democratic president and subsequently reinstated by every Republican president since then. Trump previously restored the policy four days into his first term, and former President Biden rescinded it a week into his own four years later. Supporters of the policy argue that it prevents American taxpayer money from being spent on abortions overseas. But opponents of the policy, who refer to it as the 'global gag rule' due to the restrictions it places on what reproductive health providers can talk about with patients, say there is already legislation in place that prevents this from happening. They contend that Trump reinstating the policy will weaken access to abortion care across the globe. In March, the Trump administration dropped a lawsuit filed by the Biden-era Justice Department that sought to protect the right to an emergency abortion in Idaho, where the procedure is severely restricted. After the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, an Idaho 'trigger ban' on abortion went into effect that made performing or assisting in an abortion a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. The Biden administration then sued the state, arguing the ban made it impossible for emergency room doctors to provide emergency abortions to patients under their care and violated a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. Under the law, hospitals are required to provide immediate and life-saving stabilizing treatment for patients with emergency medical conditions. Last year, the Supreme Court returned the case to a lower court, which temporarily paused Idaho's abortion ban. But by dropping the case, the Trump administration paved the way for the state's abortion ban to be reinstated. Abortion rights advocates said the administration's decision put the lives of pregnant women at risk. Meanwhile, some anti-abortion groups praised the Justice Department for dropping the case. The Trump administration earlier this year froze millions of dollars of federal funding intended to enable Americans to access birth control, cancer screenings and reproductive health care. The funding had been allocated under Title X, the U.S.'s only federal program solely aimed at providing affordable birth control and reproductive health care to low-income Americans. The program has been around since the 1970s and supported 4,000 clinics serving close to 2.8 million people in 2023 alone, according to the health advocacy nonprofit KFF. At least nine Planned Parenthood affiliates received notices about the program's funding being withheld beginning April 1. The first Trump administration similarly restricted Title X funding, issuing a rule in 2019 that barred reproductive health providers from receiving funds under the program if they mentioned abortion or referred patients for abortions. Planned Parenthood left the program because of the rule and reentered in 2021 after the Biden administration reversed it. While freezing funds to some recipients, the president's second administration has also restored some Title X funding to two state health programs that were kicked out of the program under Biden for failing to comply with some of its rules. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pam Bondi Unleashes On Alleged 'Anti-Christian Bias' — And A Christian Leader Has Thoughts
On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted an inaugural meeting of a task force consisting of other members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, to discuss its mission to eradicate alleged 'anti-Christian bias' within the federal government. The task force is an initiative born out of a February executive order by Trump, in which the president accused former President Joe Biden's administration of fostering an 'anti-Christian weaponization of government.' Bondi quoted a part of Trump's order at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, saying, 'The Biden administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent anti-Christian offenses.' Among the severalexamples of supposed anti-Christian bias Trump listed in his executive order, was the mention of federal cases in which anti-abortion activists had been convicted of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. He referenced the federal indictment of 11 anti-abortion protesters who were indicted for violating federal law by physically blocking the entrance of a reproductive clinic outside of Nashville, Tennessee, in 2021. Six were later convicted on felony conspiracy charges — and some sentences included prison time. Trump pardoned them in January. Trump also falsely suggested in his executive order that Biden declared 2024 Easter Sunday, which fell on March 31 last year, as Transgender Day of Visibility. International Transgender Day of Visibility has been recognized on March 31 since it was created over a decade ago by trans activist, psychotherapist Rachel Crandall Crocker — and Easter's date changes every year. Biden first recognized Transgender Day of Visibility with a proclamation on a Wednesday in 2021. The U.S. Department of Justice has additionally released a press release outlining a slew of examples that supposedly show anti-Christian bias, like past COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal workers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a member of the task force, shared allegations that federal employees have faced retaliation for 'opposing DEI/LGBT ideology that violated their religious conscience,' the release stated. But Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance and an ordained Baptist minister, joins the chorus of those who have taken issue with the Trump administration's apparent messaging that Christianity, the largest faith group in the U.S., is under attack. 'If you're not acknowledging as a Christian that you've got a lot of privilege in this country, you're out of your mind,' he told HuffPost, emphasizing the privilege particularly associated with white Christians. (Raushenbush was formerly the executive editor for HuffPost's Religion section.) Raushenbush said that while there may be 'real Christian persecution' that exists in other parts of the world, the Trump administration is speaking into an 'echo chamber' where some conservative and Christian media platforms are fueling concerns about 'Christian persecution' in the U.S. 'It's always about, 'They're coming for us,'' he said about the messaging on those platforms. He said efforts like the anti-Christian bias task force is the current administration's way to communicate that they're 'coming in and saving the day.' Raushenbush said he believes, if anything, hostility toward Christians has come from the White House. He referenced Trump's attacks on The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde earlier this year, after she made a plea for him to have 'mercy' on people in the country who are fearful about the future, as well as Vice President JD Vance's clashes with Catholic bishops helping immigrants, among other examples. Trump's executive order and task force is creating a 'distraction,' and an avenue, to fight 'political ideologies that the Trump administration doesn't agree with, and using religion to further those aims,' he said. Raushenbugh also charged that much of what the Trump administration really means when they say 'anti-Christian bias,' is 'anti-Christian bias against the Christian nationalists who most fervently supported them.' 'These are largely white protestant groups that insist that America is a Christian nation, and that everyone else who's here is a secondary status,' he said. Trump's executive order 'cites the First Amendment protection of religious liberty as its guiding principle, but in fact the order itself is a remarkable incursion against the separation of church and state,' said Brian Clites, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor in Catholic Studies II at Case Western University. 'In crafting the First Amendment's separation clause, our nation's founding fathers were most concerned that the government not intervene in disputes between and among Christians themselves,' he added. Clites, whose expertise includes the separation of church and state, and the history of Christianity within the U.S., said it's 'with the humble recognition that there is no fixed point that represents 'Christianity' as a whole.' He said he believes 'George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would cringe in horror' at Trump's executive order since 'it directly inserts the government into disputes between and among various Christian groups.' 'By calling out the protection of women's rights as 'anti-Christian,' the administration is uplifting the views of some Christians over and against the views of other Christians,' he said, later pointing out that research has shown that a majority of American Catholics think abortions should be legal. 'American Christians hold diverse views about reproductive justice and Transgender rights,' Clites said, adding that the administration's actions surrounding its task force is a 'clear violation of the separation of church and state,' rather than it being a protection of 'religious liberty.' And speaking about the indictments of anti-abortion protesters that Trump mentioned in his executive order, Raushenbush emphasized that those convicted were breaking the law. 'If they were treated differently than anyone else that was breaking the law, then of course, it would be important to look into that. Because no one should be prosecuted more because they're operating out of Christian faith,' he said, before he added: 'But it's also not a get out jail free card.' Raushenbush said the Trump administration has been vague about the criteria that constitutes 'anti-Christian bias,' and that their examples — like Biden's proclamation honoring International Transgender Day of Visibility — is them 'showing their hand.' He said he believes the messaging communicates a resistance to treating LGBTQ people with 'dignity and equality.' But as 'a public employee of the government, you have to treat everybody the same.' 'Everyone has a right to their beliefs — and they have a right to have accommodations... [but] make it a welcoming space for everyone,' he later said. 'Don't privilege one rather narrow sect of Christianity over all the other people. That's against the Constitution.' Trump Administration Urges Workers To Snitch On One Another For 'Anti-Christian Bias' Judge Blocks Trump Push To End DEI Programs In Public Schools Some U.S. Lawmakers Want More Christianity In Classrooms. Trump Could Embolden Their Plans.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pro-life activists march in NYC International Gift of Life Walk
March 25 (UPI) -- Hundreds of pro-life activists, carrying statues, crucifixes and signs that read "pray and act to end the sin of abortion," marched through the streets of New York City on Tuesday for the ninth annual International Gift of Life Walk. "Every year we honor the vision of St. John Paul II when he designated March 25, as the International Day of the Pre-born Child. The mission of this walk is to claim the personhood of all humans at the moment of conception," the group Personhood Education said in a statement, announcing the walk. "With that carries the recognition of the worth and dignity of every human being, from conception to natural, true death," the anti-abortion group added. In past years, the annual walk has been met with taunts, piles of trash and other confrontations from abortion activists, as the New York Police Department worked to keep the groups separated. Last year, the president of Personhood Education New York, Dawn Eskew, claimed the annual rally has been met with "greater anger" from pro-abortion protesters since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. This year's walk began with a rally at Foley Square on Worth Street and ended nearly a mile away on John Street, where pro-life speakers -- including Friar Fr. Fidelis Moscinski -- addressed the crowd. According to Personhood Education, Moscinski was among the 23 pro-lifers who were "wrongly prosecuted for violating the 1994 FACE Act" -- the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. He was pardoned by President Donald Trump in January.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘I knew that threats would increase': Clashes over abortion clinic safety intensify after Trump's pardons
Abortion rights supporters across the country are scrambling to strengthen protections for clinics in response to moves by the Trump administration that they believe will put providers and patients in danger. Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills in Illinois, Michigan, New York and elsewhere to restrict demonstrations outside of clinics, increase criminal penalties for people who harass doctors and patients, or allocate more funds for abortion providers to buy security cameras, bulletproof glass and other protections. In recent weeks, a handful of Democratic governors have held phone calls to debate whether to push for new laws or ramp up enforcement of existing ones. And some Democratic attorneys general are visiting abortion clinics to hear their workers' fears and requests, and training law enforcement on how to respond when demonstrators break the law. The moves come in response to President Donald Trump pardoning abortion protesters convicted of federal crimes and reducing enforcement of a decades-old law that prohibits interference with anyone seeking reproductive health services. 'Even though the federal administration is backing away from an important duty and obligation to enforce the law and protect access, we'll step in to that breach,' California Attorney General Rob Bonta told POLITICO. 'We will take up the mantle of safety and access that they are abandoning.' The anti-abortion movement is ramping up as well. Activists are discussing which clinic protest tactics to deploy in the coming months and training the next generation on what they call 'rescues' — entering clinics by stealth or by force in order to shut down operations. The movement's legal arm is also working to eliminate state and city protections for clinics, and they're often winning. Carbondale, Illinois, Westchester, New York and Minneapolis have all rolled back laws restricting protests outside abortion clinics after challenges from the Thomas More Society — the conservative legal powerhouse that successfully lobbied Trump to pardon nearly two dozen people who violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. And while the Supreme Court recently declined to hear two more of the group's lawsuits challenging clinic protections in Illinois and New Jersey, it has several cases in the pipeline and believes it can eventually convince the high court to rule that activists have an unrestrained right to stand in front of clinic doors, hold up signs, and tell patients and doctors that the procedure is akin to murder. 'We do feel like we are, to some extent, playing Whack-a-Mole,' Peter Breen, the head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, said. 'But we're going to play Whack-a-Mole until we get a result.' The Trump administration's pledge to only enforce the federal FACE Act in 'extraordinary circumstances' has, like the fall of Roe, created a national patchwork of laws protecting abortion providers and patients seeking care. In a March letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, 72 House Democrats demanded answers by the end of the month on exactly what the Department of Justice considers an 'extraordinary circumstance' and whether she will rescind what they see as a 'potentially illegal directive.' They have not received a response. In the meantime, abortion-rights advocates warn the erosion of federal protections will leave clinics vulnerable in Missouri, Montana and other states where courts have ruled that abortion is legal but Republicans control all levers of power. And even in states where Democrats hold key offices, advocates say officials are not doing enough, and warn that legal protections for abortion will become meaningless if protesters harass and intimidate doctors and patients without consequences. 'That's not enough if there aren't providers that are safe and have the support and resources they need to keep their practices open,' said Melissa Fowler, the chief program officer for the National Abortion Federation. 'There's definitely more that needs to be done.' Renee Chelian, the founder of Northland Family Planning clinics in the Detroit and Ann Arbor suburbs, said she has dealt for decades with armed protesters, threats and 'rescues' that have temporarily shut operations and terrified patients and staff. Her clinics, which provide contraception, ultrasounds and other services in addition to abortion, have long had security cameras, panic buttons, bulletproof glass and armed private guards. In August, she sat in a federal courtroom as seven anti-abortion activists received felony convictions for chaining themselves to the entrances of her clinics in 2020 and 2021. The Justice Department presented evidence that one of the pregnant women the activists prevented from accessing the clinic had a fatal fetal abnormality, and the 'coordinated campaign of physical obstruction posed a grave and real threat to her health and fertility.' When Trump won in November and Democrats lost their majority in Lansing, Chelian immediately worried that protections for clinics like hers would be on the chopping block and urged her state lawmakers to act before Inauguration Day. But Michigan Democrats failed to pass a state-level FACE Act in their final months in power amid the defection of one of their members and a revolt by Republicans that denied them the quorum needed to hold votes. 'Democrats really fell down on the job,' Chelian said. 'It felt like a blow.' In January, Trump pardoned all of the people who had blockaded Northland Family Planning centers, raising Chelian's fears that they will make good on vows to return. In February, Michigan Democratic Rep. Laurie Pohutsky reintroduced her clinic-protection bill that floundered in the lame duck, but it faces an uphill battle. 'There's probably going to be a significant challenge in getting state-level Republicans on board with enshrining those protections in state law,' Pohutsky said, even though the bill covers not just abortion clinics but anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers that have also been the target of vandalism and protests. 'So we have concerns of safety, concerns of patient access — being able to physically get into a clinic — concerns about the clinic's ability to continue providing care if people feel emboldened to intimidate and physically block and potentially even harm people.' Following Trump's pardons and guidance urging reduced enforcement, Bonta urged Democrats around the country to copy his state's version of the FACE Act, arguing that it's even stronger than the federal version because it includes criminal penalties for actions like taking videos of patients going into abortion clinics without their consent. 'California provides not just a beacon of light and hope with respect to what can be done but also a blueprint for tangible action that can be taken,' he said. 'Other states can literally pull our state FACE act off the shelf and introduce it.' Yet only a few states have done so since Trump took office, and in several of those that have, the bills face narrow prospects for becoming law. Legislation drafted by Virginia Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell bars anyone from obstructing or delaying another person's entry to a health care facility. The bill specifically prohibits individuals from approaching someone within eight feet in the 40-foot radius of a facility's entrance to protest, leaflet or counsel a person without their consent. Surovell's legislation passed out of the General Assembly in late February through a mostly party-line vote. But Surovell suspects Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin may veto it if it reaches his desk, and because Democrats hold a slim majority in the state's Legislature, an override of that potential veto is unlikely. Youngkin, who has pushed for a 15-week abortion ban, vetoed multiple bills last year that would have strengthened protections for reproductive health care providers. His office did not respond to a request for comment. 'I don't see the bill as expanding or limiting abortion,' said Surovell, who drafted the legislation after a reproductive health clinic in his district told him it was dealing with an uptick in aggressive protesters. 'It just says, 'If you want to get health care, people have to leave you alone.'' Similar legislation by Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Lindsay Powell also faces a challenging path. Pennsylvania has a Democratic majority in the state's House and a Republican-dominated Senate, meaning Powell's bill would need bipartisan backing to become law. Powell said she's still working to win that support from across the aisle. 'My biggest hope is that we prove to the American public that Democrats will stand up for what's right,' Powell said. 'That we're not just armchair politicians who are out there pontificating and thinking about the issue at hand — that we're doing the hard work on the ground to keep people safe.' Other bills in states where Democrats hold majorities have rosier prospects. Proposals in New York would enact a state-level FACE Act and create a new misdemeanor offense for photographing individuals entering or leaving reproductive health care facilities. An Illinois bill would designate attacks on abortion clinics as acts of terrorism. And legislation in New Jersey would set aside millions for clinics frequently targeted by protesters to beef up security, and prohibit interference or intimidation of patients and providers. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who visited Cherry Hill Women's Center in January, said staff there convinced him there's a growing danger that requires government action to protect both state residents and those traveling from states with strict abortion laws for the procedure. 'I knew that threats would increase when [Trump] pardoned extremists, and that's what we've seen,' Platkin said. 'While the Department of Justice is no longer apparently going to enforce federal law that protects people's ability to access reproductive health care clinics, states can still enforce that law, and we are absolutely going to in New Jersey.' Democrats working on clinics' physical safety acknowledge that state officials' attention is divided by a myriad of other threats to abortion access — from the possibility that the Trump administration could reimpose restrictions on telemedicine prescription of abortion pills to a surge in digital tracking of people who visit abortion clinics to attempts by Louisiana and Texas to reach across state lines and prosecute a New York abortion provider. 'Those are really big threats, because medication abortion is really the method of choice across the country,' said Christina Chang, executive director of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance that Democratic governors created to better coordinate their efforts after the fall of Roe. 'Two thirds of abortions are medication abortions nationwide, and it's a critical access point for people who are living in rural communities or other care deserts.' At the same time, some activists worry that the threat to brick-and-mortar clinics — which are the only option for people with pregnancies past the first trimester — is getting pushed to the backburner amid an overwhelming focus on protecting access to abortion pills. And others fear the shift from national to state and local protections will leave patients in GOP-controlled states that still have some abortion access, including Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, at risk. 'The reliance on FACE, or at least the knowledge it was there and protective, was meaningful,' said Rosann Mariappuram, the senior policy counsel for the progressive group State Innovation Exchange. 'To know that there isn't going to be a federal path for protection is a really hard truth for clinics in that position.' But the moment Democratic officials enact clinic protections, the Thomas More Society and other conservative groups are challenging them as infringements on the First Amendment rights of anti-abortion activists. On March 10, the legal group defeated a contempt motion filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against pro-life activists associated with Red Rose Rescue, an anti-abortion group. James had accused the group's members of violating a court order prohibiting them from coming within 15 feet of abortion care facilities in New York with the intent to engage in 'force, threat of force, or physical obstruction.' The group is also awaiting a ruling out of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after arguing in December against Clearwater, Florida's law creating a 'bubble zone' around abortion clinics that Breen sees as 'flagrantly unconstitutional.' He is also preparing to sue the city of Detroit for a similar law it adopted last year. 'It's a very dangerous road to go down, whatever your position on the issue,' he said of the state and local clinic protections. 'If you believe in the public's right to use the sidewalk to leaflet, to express ideas, you shouldn't want to restrict anybody's speech.'
