Thomas More Law Center Defends California High Schooler’s Right To Wear Pro-Life Shirts To School
Tue, Nov 20, 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan – A senior at Littlerock High School in Littlerock, California, has asked the Thomas More Law Center to defend her right to wear pro-life shirts to school. At issue is whether the school will change its position and allow the student to wear shirts with messages such as “I’m Pro-Life,” “Abortion is Wrong,” and “Abortion is Killing.”
The student, an ardent believer that abortion is the intentional killing of unborn children, wants to express her pro-life message on her clothing to the same extent that other students are allowed to express various messages including the Playboy Bunny symbol and the rock band Marilyn Manson, among other things.
Thomas More Law Center attorneys, Edward L. White III and Kimberly A. Daniels, sent a letter to the school superintendent and school board members explaining the student’s constitutional right to advance her pro-life views at school and requested immediate written assurance that she would be permitted to wear her pro-life clothing.
According to Richard Thompson, the Thomas More Law Center’s Chief Counsel, “It is a fundamental constitutional principle that students do not lose their right to free speech just because they are in school. Students may express themselves on controversial subjects such as abortion. A school cannot confine a student to expressing only those messages that the school has officially approved.”
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, defends and promotes religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. The Center provides its services at no charge. The Center’s number is (734) 827-2001 and its website is www.thomasmore.org .
Law Center Gets School To Permit Pro-Life Message
Mon, Nov 5, 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan – The Thomas More Law Center successfully intervened on behalf of a student who was prevented by her public high school in Malone, New York, from wearing a sweatshirt to school stating on the front “Abortion is Homicide” and on the back “You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life.”
This past September, the student wore the sweatshirt to her high school and was told by the school she had to wear a different shirt or go home because the message on the sweatshirt was “offensive.” The girl was placed on in-school suspension until her father came to school. The girl, who was visibly upset over the matter, went home rather than wear a different shirt to school that day.
The girl and her family then contacted the Thomas More Law Center. Edward L. White III, one of the Center’s attorneys, sent a letter to the Malone Central School District superintendent explaining in detail the student’s constitutional right to wear the pro-life sweatshirt, and demanded written assurance that the school would no longer interfere with the girl’s right to wear her sweatshirt as well as a written apology to the girl and her father.
The school district continued to prohibit the student from wearing her sweatshirt citing a new reason, namely, that the sweatshirt conveyed a religious message and constituted religious proselytizing. The school’s lawyer argued that a student may not proselytize a specific, religious point of view in school, and the district could prohibit a student’s religious proselytizing just as the district can restrict a student’s promotion of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco slogans.
The school district, however, made a dramatic turn around after Mr. White explained to officials that not only do court decisions contradict the district’s decision to stifle religious speech, but even the United States Department of Education’s guidelines, which every school district has received, permits students to display religious messages on clothing to the same extent that students are permitted to display other comparable messages.
The school district gave written assurance to the Thomas More Law Center that their client would be allowed to wear her pro-life sweatshirt to school. In the same letter, the school district apologized to the student and her father for any hardship caused to them as a result of the incident.
According to White, “The school district did the right thing in acknowledging our client’s constitutional right to freely express her pro-life views in school. Unfortunately, we receive many calls each school year from public school students throughout the country whose pro-life speech is wrongly prohibited or restricted by their schools. Many of those students comply and stop wearing their pro-life shirts, even though they don’t have to. In this case, the student and family had the courage to stand up for her rights, and I am pleased we were able to quickly restore her right to wear her pro-life sweatshirt to school.”
Mr. White went on to thank New York attorney John M. Kennedy, who assisted the Thomas More Law Center with this case.
The Thomas More Law Center is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is partially funded by the Ave Maria Foundation. The Center promotes and defends religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. The Thomas More Law Center is a section 501(c)(3) organization, and provides its services at no charge. You may contact the Center at (734) 827-2001.
Pro-Lifers Free To Protest on Grass in Front of Abortion Clinic
Mon, Oct 29, 2001
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has secured written assurance from the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Henrico County, Virginia, that the Center’s pro-life clients may freely demonstrate on the grass in front of A Capital Women’s Health Clinic, an abortion clinic in Henrico County, near Richmond.
The Thomas More Law Center represented Dennis Green and his two minor children, who are part of Life and Liberty Ministries, a pro-life organization based in Petersburg, Virginia.
Because there are no paved sidewalks along the street in front of the abortion clinic, the Greens had been peacefully protesting against abortion on the grass area in front of the clinic near the street.
However, when police threatened the Greens with a trespassing citation on the basis that the grassy area was part of the clinic’s property, they contacted the Thomas More Law Center. The Center sent a letter to the local law enforcement authorities explaining that based on the facts of the case, the grassy area was a right of way and the functional equivalent of a public sidewalk, which is a quintessential public forum where free speech activity may take place.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney agreed with the Center’s legal position that the Greens and others could legally protest on the grass and so informed the local police. According to Dennis Green, “We consulted the Thomas More Law Center to get clarification whether we were trespassing. Having received the written assurance of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, we can protest without concern of any future threats of being charged with trespass.”
Edward L. White III, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, stated, “I am pleased for our clients that this matter has been resolved. They did not want to violate the law and wanted clarification from the government whether they were indeed trespassing. I am confident that our clients will now be able to freely exercise their pro-life protest in front of the abortion clinic without further police interference.” White went on to thank local Richmond attorney, Paul Morken, who assisted the Thomas More Law Center with the case.
The Thomas More Law Center is a section 501(c)(3) organization that is affiliated with the Ave Maria Foundation, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Center defends and promotes religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. The Center does not charge for its services, and you may contact the Center at 734-827-2001.
Thomas More Law Center Defends High Schooler’s Right to Wear Pro-Life Shirt to School
Thu, Sep 20, 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan – The Thomas More Law Center has sent a demand letter to school officials in upstate New York on behalf of a public high school student who was ordered by school officials to remove her sweatshirt that displays the words “Abortion is Homicide” on the front and the words “You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life.” on the back.
The pro-life student had worn the sweatshirt on a number of occasions to high school this school year without disrupting the workings of the school and without interfering with the rights of other students. She had received only positive comments from fellow students about the shirt.
On Friday, September 14, 2001, however, a school official told her that she had to put on a different shirt or go home because the sweatshirt was “offensive.” The girl was placed in in-school suspension until her father came to school. The girl, who was visibly upset over the matter, went home rather than wear a different shirt to school that day.
According to Richard Thompson, the Thomas More Law Center’s Chief Counsel, “It is outrageous that the high school is attempting to silence this girl’s pro-life message, while other students are permitted to wear shirts to that same school advertising beer companies and rock bands such as Marilyn Manson. The only thing ‘offensive’ in this case is the school’s restriction of the girl’s free speech rights.”
The Thomas More Law Center’s five-page letter explains the student’s clearly established constitutional right to wear her pro-life clothing and demands that the school take immediate action and provide written assurance that the girl will be permitted to wear her “Abortion is Homicide” sweatshirt to school. Should the school disregard this demand and continue to violate the student’s rights, the Thomas More Law Center is prepared to seek appropriate relief in federal court at no charge to the girl and her family.
The Thomas More Law Center is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm affiliated with the Ave Maria Foundation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It defends and promotes religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. It provides its services at no charge and can be contacted at (734) 827-2001.
Thomas More Law Center Sues Planned Parenthood Over Abortion – Breast Cancer Link
Wed, Aug 15, 2001
SAN DIEGO, CA, – Three California women are suing Planned Parenthood to force the nation’s largest provider of abortions to reveal scientific evidence of a substantial link between induced abortion and increased risk of breast cancer, it was announced today by the Thomas More Law Center, a national, public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The women, Agnes Bernardo of Chula Vista, Pamela Colip of Loma Linda, and Sandra Duffy-Hawkins of Sacramento, filed suit this morning in the San Diego branch of the state superior court against Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties, which operates an abortion clinic in San Diego, as well as Planned Parenthood Federation of America (P.P.F.A.), headquartered in New York City. The plaintiffs are represented in the action by the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center. Stuart Fagan is serving as local legal counsel.
Patrick Gillen, the Thomas More Law Center’s lead attorney in the case, explained that the complaint alleges that both P.P.F.A. and its San Diego affiliate consistently mislead women about the safety of abortion by obscuring evidence that induced abortion causes breast cancer. The plaintiffs are seeking no monetary damages. Rather, they want the court to compel Planned Parenthood to inform women that abortion poses a significant health risk in the form of increased vulnerability to breast cancer, the leading cause of death among middle-age women in America.
“Planned Parenthood advocates a woman’s right to choose,” Gillen said. “Our clients want all women to have free access to the truthful and accurate information they need to make an informed choice.”
The complaint filed today notes that Planned Parenthood touts the safety of abortion both in its printed materials and on its websites, claiming that childbirth “carries seven times more risk” than a surgical abortive procedure. But the complaint points out that the American Medical Association considers that any death subsequent to an abortion is related to the procedure if it results from “a direct complication of an abortion, an indirect complication caused by the chain of events initiated by the abortion, or the aggravation of a preexisting condition.”
“Planned Parenthood is trying to focus the attention of women only on surgical errors and other immediate complications of the procedure itself, which grossly understates the risk,” Gillen said. “They dismiss the research that shows a connection between abortion and breast cancer which can increase the health risks associated with abortion by 30 percent.”
Dr. Joel Brind, an endocrinologist at Baruch College of the City University of New York, who has analyzed the research concerning an abortion-breast cancer link, noted that a correlation between breast cancer and induced abortion was observed as long ago as a 1957 study conducted in Japan. In the years since, a body of evidence has accumulated from around the world, lending credence to the abortion-breast cancer connection.
“Out of 37 independently published studies, 28 show a causal connection,” Brind said. “And of those, 17 provide positive associations that reach statistical significance suggesting a 95-percent certainty that this association is not due to chance. That is scientific evidence which simply cannot be ignored.”
Brind noted that research suggests the problem becomes more acute the earlier in life a women has an abortion. “The younger a woman is at the time of her first pregnancy, the greater the protection she will have if she carries her baby to term,” he said. “Correspondingly, the younger she is when she has an abortion, the more prone to cancer she will likely be.
The three plaintiffs have brought their suit on behalf of the people of California, as permitted by California law. Agnes Bernardo explained that she and her co-plaintiffs feel a high degree of personal motivation in this effort. “I have experienced abortion, and I have been treated for a non-malignant tumor,” Bernardo said. “I am very concerned about developing breast cancer as are most women. I strongly believe women should receive complete information about the studies linking induced abortion and breast cancer before making the decision to have an abortion.”
Pamela Colip noted that she had an abortion some 30 years ago, which precipitated a premature birth in a subsequent pregnancy. “I was terribly disturbed when I learned about the abundance of scientific medical evidence showing that women who have had an induced abortion have a much greater risk of developing breast cancer,” Colip said. “My abortion was performed some thirty years ago and I remember it as though it were yesterday. Besides the emotional and physical pain, and the tremendous health risks to future pregnancies, now there is the added risk of this devastating cancer. I believe that you can never have too much information. I believe that every woman deserves the respect to be fully informed about all the consequences surrounding such a procedure as this one. I had no such information about the negative consequences, I want to help make sure that others do.”
Saundra Duffy-Hawkins explained that, while she has never had an abortion, she has been treated for cancer twice, and her mother died of cancer. “We all know first-hand what it means to go through these experiences,” she said. “I want to do what I can to protect others from tragedies that can be avoided simply by having truthful information available. I believe that women need to understand the real risks they face before making choices that can destroy lives.”
John Kindley, an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, has published an article on legal liability arising from failure to disclose the abortion-breast cancer link. Kindley noted some of the ways in which Planned Parenthood is alleged to have misled women about the health risks of abortion.
“It’s their practice to make claims about the safety of abortion based on very incomplete data,” Kindley said. “At the same time, they attempt to discredit the very real scientific work which has been done showing an abortion-breast cancer link. For instance, they cite five studies that say the connection is unclear, while ignoring the overwhelming preponderance of the scientific evidence to the contrary. Then they assure their clients that the case for a connection is unproven. This is not only bad science, it’s disingenuous to the point of being unethical.”
Brind explained the physical process which the studies indicate causes the increased risk.
“In the early stages of pregnancy, there is a dramatic increase in the level of estrogen, the female sex hormone,” Brind said. “This estrogen surge causes an increase in the number of breast cells in preparation for nursing, which is why a pregnant woman’s breasts tend to swell. In the last eight weeks of a full-term pregnancy, other hormones cause the increased tissue to stabilize into milk-producing cells. But at the early stage of rapid development, breast cells are in an undifferentiated state and highly vulnerable to mutations that can cause cancer.”
Abortion interrupts the natural process of preparing a woman’s body to bear and nurse a child, Brind observed, cutting off the final part of the sequence that provides breast tissue with a significant measure of protection against cancer.
Thomas More Law Center Announces Another Victory in the “Nuremberg Files” Case
Wed, Aug 1, 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan – The Thomas More Center For Law & Justice, a national, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announces today that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied Planned Parenthood’s attempt to get all twenty-five active judges on the court to rehear the appeal of the so-called “Nuremberg Files” case.
This past March, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit stunned the pro-abortion world when it reversed an Oregon jury’s $107 million damage verdict against fourteen pro-life defendants. The Thomas More Law Center represents seven of the defendants on appeal.
The Oregon jury had held the pro-life defendants liable for making threats against abortion doctors and clinics, who are the plaintiffs in the case. Some of the plaintiffs had been named in two posters and a website. The two posters, for example, had declared the abortion doctors “guilty of crimes against humanity” for their roles in the abortion industry.
The unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned the jury’s verdict and ruled that the First Amendment protected defendants’ speech, which did not threaten the plaintiffs or urge anyone else to harm the plaintiffs.
After losing on appeal, Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs filed a petition requesting that all twenty-five active judges on the Ninth Circuit rehear the case and reverse the decision of the three-judge panel. The Thomas More Law Center, joined by attorney Christopher Ferrara of the American Catholic Lawyers Association and attorney Norman Lindstedt, who represent the other defendants, responded to the petition and explained to all the active judges that the three-judge panel’s decision followed governing case law of the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court concerning the First Amendment’s protection of the defendants’ speech. Review of the decision by the full Ninth Circuit was therefore unnecessary.
Not only did the Thomas More Law Center have to respond to Planned Parenthood’s petition for rehearing, the Center had to respond to five “friend of the court” briefs filed in support of Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs. These briefs were submitted by more than eighty (80) individuals, groups, and States, some represented by prestigious national law firms. The supporters of Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs include fifty-nine members of the United States Congress, including Senators Edward Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, the American Medical Association, the Anti-Defamation League, and the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, and West Virginia through their Attorneys General.
Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, stated “the decision by the full Ninth Circuit to not rehear this appeal is not surprising. The three-judge panel’s First Amendment decision was sound and based on established case law. This case is not yet over. We expect Planned Parenthood and the other plaintiffs to request that the United States Supreme Court review this case. If that occurs, the Thomas More Law Center will continue to vigorously advance the First Amendment rights of its clients.”
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a section 501(c)(3) organization, is affiliated with the Ave Marie Foundation, Ann Arbor, Michigan. TMLC defends and promotes religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. TMLC does not charge for its services. You may contact TMLC at 734-827-2001.
Plaintiffs Appeal Reversal of “Satan Trial” Win to Supreme Court
Mon, Jun 25, 2001
RAMSEY, NJ – June 25, 2001. The American Catholic Lawyers Association, Ramsey, NJ and the Thomas More Center For Law & Justice, Ann Arbor, MI, today jointly filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, following the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ reversal of a trial-level victory by a group of Catholic parents in what the media dubbed the “Satan trial” lawsuit.
The lawsuit by parents and students against the Bedford Central School District in Westchester County, NY, had challenged a series of school-sponsored activities that the plaintiffs contended were promoting Eastern, pagan, and satanic religious concepts in Bedford schools. Plaintiffs’ claims included a school-sponsored card game called “Magic the Gathering,” in which students summoned demons depicted on the playing cards, which also depict human sacrifice and a pact with the devil.
The federal district judge agreed with plaintiffs as to four of the claims, holding that the Bedford Central School District had violated the First Amendment rights of parents and students when the school district directed children to make images of a Hindu god out of paper and clay, played audiotapes of prayers to the earth in the classroom (including “This is what we believe. The Mother of us all is the Earth. The Father is the Sun. The Grandfather is the Creator who bathed us with his mind and gave life to all things.”), told children to make and purchase“ worry-dolls” to ward off evil, and conducted what the district court termed an “Earth Day liturgy.”
The district court found that Bedford’s “Earth Day liturgy” involved annually assembling the entire high school student body before a large globe on a tripod, where class leaders would offer “gifts” to the Earth in the form of speeches. The district court concluded “The liturgy of Earth Day . . . evolved into a proceeding which takes on much of the attributes of the ceremonies of worship by organized religions.”
In a decision rendered last March, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the entire trial court judgment, mostly on the technical grounds of “lack of standing,” in that three of the four plaintiff families had moved, or were about to move out of the district.
Christopher A. Ferrara, chief counsel of the American Catholic Lawyers Association, said that “We believe the decision of the Court of Appeals is erroneous. The remaining plaintiffs had standing to sue, and the district court’s legal and factual findings were clearly in line with Supreme Court precedent requiring religious neutrality in public schools. The district court correctly recognized that neutrality means neutrality, not just hostility toward Christianity in the public schools. If the schools cannot promote Christianity, then neither can they promote Earth-worship or Hinduism.”
Edward L. White III, associate counsel with the Thomas More Center For Law & Justice, commented that “We agreed to join in this certiorari petition because we believe this is a case of national importance in which the Circuit Court has made rulings that conflict with Supreme Court precedent and decisions in other circuits.”
A decision on whether the Supreme Court will accept review of the case is not expected until September.
Thomas More Center Scores Victory in “Nuremberg Files” Appeal
Thu, Mar 29, 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan – The Thomas More Center for Law & Justice, a national, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, scored a landmark legal victory yesterday when a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the jury verdict and injunction against the Center’s seven clients and the other defendants in the so-called “Nuremberg Files” case. The jury had awarded damages in excess of $107 million against the pro-life defendants, and the district court had enjoined the defendants’ speech. The jury’s multi-million verdict and the court’s injunction had made national headlines.
In the case, pro-life activists had published the names and addresses of abortion providers. For example, the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA) unveiled at a public event a poster that listed the names and addresses of the “Deadly Dozen,” a group of abortion providers, and that declared the abortion doctors guilty of “crimes against humanity.” The poster offered $5,000 for any information leading to the arrest, conviction, and revocation of their medical licenses. At another public event, the ACLA unveiled a series of dossiers, dubbed the “Nuremberg Files,” that contained information about abortion doctors, abortion clinic employees, politicians, judges, and other abortion rights supporters. The ACLA had compiled the files so that Nuremberg-like war crime trials could be held in “perfectly legal courts once the tide of this nation’s opinion turns against the wanton slaughter of God’s children.” The ACLA sent hard copies of the files to another person, who posted the information contained in the files on a website.
In response to the posters and website, four abortion doctors and two Portland, Oregon, based abortion clinics sued the ACLA, twelve other people, and an affiliated organization. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants had made threatening statements against them that violated state and federal law.
After a lengthy trial in federal district court in Portland, Oregon, the jury found that all of the alleged statements were true threats and awarded the plaintiffs $107 million in actual and punitive damages. The district court then issued an injunction barring defendants from making or distributing the posters, the webpage, or anything similar.
The Thomas More Center represented seven of the defendants on appeal: the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA), Advocates for Life Ministries, Andrew Burnett, David Crane, Catherine Ramey, Michael Bray, and Dawn Stover.
The Thomas More Center argued on appeal that its clients’ statements were protected by the First Amendment. In its unanimous opinion, the panel of the Ninth Circuit agreed. The Ninth Circuit vacated the jury’s multi-million dollar verdict against the defendants and ordered that the district court dissolve its injunction.
“This is an important victory for the free speech rights of pro-life advocates,” said Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Center.
The American Catholic Lawyers Association represented the other defendant on appeal. “Friend of the court” briefs urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold the jury’s verdict were filed by such groups as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, the ACLU Foundation of Oregon, and the Anti-Defamation League, as well as by the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington through their Attorneys General.
For a copy of the Court’s opinion, contact the Thomas More Center.
The Thomas More Center, a section 501(c)(3) organization, is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Thomas More Center defends and promotes religious freedom, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. The Thomas More Center achieves these goals on behalf of the citizens of the United States through education, litigation, and related activities. The Thomas More Center provides its services at no charge and can be contacted at (734) 827-2001.