Prolifers busted near a high school.
We may see more incidents like this in the future. The attitude that prolifers should be ignored and they'll quietly go away seems to be disappearing. More and more of the proabort crowd seem to be a tad bit upset with them.
Birmingham, AL (LifeNews.com) -- Local officials in the largest city in Alabama arrested a group of pro-life advocates who were sharing a message against abortion outside Parker High School.
Nine college-aged participants in the Survivors Campus Life Tour were arrested on a public sidewalk while distributing literature to students Thursday. (College-aged? Used to be the prolife crowd was stereotyped as middle-aged religious fundies, so much for any truth in that one.)
The group of pro-life youth activists quietly held signs, distributed literature and peacefully dialogued with students on the public sidewalk.
Local officials threatened the pro-life advocates with arrest and they contacted their attorneys, who informed them that their location on the public sidewalk and their free speech activity was legal according to local and state laws. (Eh, don't look for that to stop any intimidation. "We made a mistake" is always spoken AFTERWARDS, when the message has been delivered.)
Once the members of the pro-life team finished distributing their literature and were loading their van in preparation to leave, officers handcuffed and arrested all nine pro-life advocates without warning.
One of the team members who did not assist in the distribution of literature was also arrested and handcuffed so tightly that it caused her to cry in pain. (I take this one with a grain of salt, playing to the gallery isn't something confined to liberal moonbats. Yes, I do sympathize with the cops who were probably just caught in the middle of it all.)
Kortney Blythe, Director of Survivors Campus Life Tours, told LifeNews.com that she repeatedly asked Officer Cooley, one of the arresting officers, the reason for the arrests.
He kept assuring the team that they were not arrested, they were only being detained, (Hey Officer, a rose by any other name... ya know?) and he did not know on what basis they would be charged. (I tend to believe that one.) Police officials never informed the group the reason for their arrest as they were being handcuffed, and the team said one officer questioned his superiors, "What are we arresting them for again?" (This goes back to my feeling that the cops were just caught in the middle. Sue me.)
The police confiscated the team's video cameras and personal belongings, and impounded and searched their van. They also asked the location of their hotel so that could be searched as well. (This wasn't just a complaint of trespass, someone had a bug up their ass.)
The pro-life advocates are now being held in Birmingham City Jail, the jail from which Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his famous letter condemning apathy and injustice. (Not to worry, anyone who's ever spent a night in the local lockup knows that most times it will just amount to some free room & board. Not a biggie, although the threat of arrest is oft used as a bogeyman to the uninformed.)
The group is scheduled for an early Friday morning hearing, and have been informed the pending charge is "criminal trespass." (Kinda hard to believe this would justify a search of their hotel rooms.)
Allison Aranda, a staff attorney with the Life Legal Defense Fund who is handling the case, told LifeNews.com, "I am in shock and disbelief that a person can be arrested for simply standing on a public sidewalk and handing out literature." (Get used to it lady, theres a lot more of that coming down the pipe.)
"If there is any principle that is so deeply rooted in this nation's history it is the right of free speech, and it is shameful that those charged with upholding the law are in fact the ones that violated the highest law of the land today," Aranda said. (C'mon, the cops are just doing their job. Start looking for who gave them their marching orders and follow the money trail from there.)
IMHO we'll see more of this in the near future. The proaborts have learned their prolife counterparts aren't fading away. As an example, the Catholic Church seems to be getting more vocal on the topic since the election campaign. You can bet the higher visibility isn't too comfortable for those who endorse killing a child in the womb.
6 comments:
I missed out on pur spate of arrests of pro-lifers back a ton of years ago. The cops WERE caught in the middle. The mayor gets a bug up his ass from the businessman - don't bother using the honorific of Doctor for this bottom feeder - who doesn't want to see his profits take a hit. And some of the pro-lifers are drama queens. The cops were complaining about the fat assed broads who go all limp and tax the backs of middle aged cops who don't want to be there or who actually sympathize with the pro-life platform.
sig94, a lot of folks don't realize cops just enforce the law. They don't interpet it regarding right & wrong.
Rev Gregori, no problem with you venting. But I'll repeat what I said to sig94. Cops just enforce the law and the interpretation is left to others. If their supervisors bow to pressure and tell the men on the street to run in some protesters thats what they'll do unless it's blatantly wrong.
And the topic of abortion has been allowed to be seen as having a lot of "gray areas". This goes along with what you posted, Rev. Too many prolifers have had the "go along to get along" mentality for the past 40 years. Now that some are starting to dig in their heels it's all that much more difficult because of the lack of spine in previous years.
Subvet, we disagree on one thing: Cops are sworn to uphold the law. The basic law in the US is freedom of speech. If someone is speaking in public, and the cops are pressured to arrest them, they should resist.
"I was just following orders/doing my duty" has a familier and frightening ring to, don't you think?
I'm afraid I'm with Fr. Gregori and IR Subvet, the cops are part of the problem here as they are in San Francisco and it's only going to get worse for us.
I too sympathize with the other opinions here and am thankful that I did not have to make a decision on something like this.
However, we are civil servants. To willfully refuse to enforce a law (makes no difference whether it is a local statute or state/federal law) opens you up to being arrested yourself for official misconduct.
As a police officer you cannot refrain from performing an official duty simply because you find it repugnant or it violates your sense of propriety.
Well, you can but you must be prepared to face the consequences.
And what is every cop did just that? Only enforce the laws that he/she agrees with? Or only those laws that you agree with????
That is utter bullshit.
You don't like the laws? Well then change 'em and more power to you.
I broke that off too soon.
If those officers were actually in violation of the law, then there are other legal remedies that can, and should, be pursued. But that does not relieve the officers from obeying orders that, on the face of things, seem lawful.
Now if an officer is in a position where he is given an obviously unlawful commnad, then and only then is he permitted to question that order.
We have rules and regulations regarding this issue that we must follow forwhen given orders under questionable circumstances. That usually involves kicking it up the chain of command.
And perhaps the example in this post given is exactly one of those situations (sure appears to sound like it); but to the best of my knowledge neither you, nor I nor any other commentor was there when these events transpired. And from my 34+ years in the business, you simply cannot trust what you read in the papers. The media presents the news in a manner most likely to produce profits - ergo they will create controversy even when there is none. We have had cops get arrested (four of my friends - I have personal experience in this matter) over one instance where the media went ballistic in order to satisfy some minorities and get a fire going.
This Country ain't completely gone to the dogs just yet so I hope that the courts will shed some light on this incident.
"Remember the Nazis, they all said; "I was just following orders." It made no difference how immoral or illegal those orders were, they blindly obeyed."
And if the cops were in error, then they and the jurisdiction will get their asses sued off, and rightfully so. These prolife people were arrested, they were not taken to the local waste dump and shot.
Of course under the jugeared Messiah that could change also...
But Rev., you are wrong when you say "we have allowed, those whom we elected to represent us in Congress, to vote to enact legislation that they themselves have no idea what the hell is in it (this new 'Porkulus' Bill is a good example) because they allowed immoral moonbats to write the bills for them. Why do we allow these 'legislators' to remain in office and collect a hefty salary when they don't even do their job."
The US Supreme Court did much of this damage all on their lonesome. Starting with FDR padding the federal courts, our rights have been infringed ever since. Our judges lost their moral compass long before the people did.
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