PRO-LIFERS AT GREATER RISK FROM HATE LAWS
By Harmony Grant
17 Feb 09
All Americans should protest the “anti-hate” bills
before Congress, HR 256 and 262, which threaten our freedom of speech.
But pro-lifers are especially at risk of arrest and censorship
for “hate speech.” Incidents in Germany and Canada—as
well as recent events in our own “free” nation!—demonstrate
the danger of hate crime laws to pro-lifers.
Last Thursday, nine college-age pro-lifers were arrested
and jailed in Alabama on charges of “criminal trespass.” They
were giving out literature at a local high school, while standing on the public
sidewalk! Police “handcuffed and arrested all nine [pro-lifers] 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… police
confiscated the team’s video cameras and personal belongings, and impounded
and searched the Campus Life Tour van. The police also asked the team members
where they were staying so they could conduct a search in their hotel as well.”
Pro-lifers fare even worse in other states. In Oakland, CA, pastor Walter Hoye faces
up to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine for carrying a sign, “Jesus
Loves You. Can We Help?” outside an abortion clinic. He is charged with “harassment.”
Police were sensitized to Hoye and other pro-lifers by California’s 2004 “anti-hate” law
SB 1234. Police in California now receive hate crime training called "multi-mission
criminal extremism." A new category has been added: "anti-reproductive-rights
crimes." Pro-lifers are automatically suspect.
Janet
Folger of Faith2Action writes, “If I lived in California, I have
a feeling my picture would be found at the local post office. If you think
killing children is wrong, they're training people against you, too.”
Since pro-lifers are already persecuted under existing statutes, we can only
imagine how the crackdown will intensify if federal “anti-hate” laws
HR 256 and 262 are passed. Soon all American police will be trained
to specifically target “hateful” pro-lifers, as they already do in
California.
No Freedom for Canadian Pro-Lifers
Persecution of pro-lifers under existing statutes demonstrates the ferocity
of public authorities to attack defenders of the unborn. As we have warned
all along, the plight of our neighbors in Canada—where federal hate
laws have already shattered free speech—will soon be ours if we don’t
stop these bills. In 1994, Canadian
pro-lifer Bill Whatcott spent 6 months in jail for praying on the public
sidewalk outside an abortion clinic. In 2003, he was sentenced to 8 days
in jail for displaying images of aborted fetuses. Police charged him with “criminal
mischief” and “disturbing the peace.” In 2004, he
was fined $15,000 for protesting Planned Parenthood on a public sidewalk.
His total legal debts to date in defense of these charges, and others stemming
from criticism of homosexuality, total at least $250,000.
In Canada, as in Europe, the government, and university administrators, are
now speech police. Toronto Sun columnist Michael
Coren writes of “pro-life clubs defunded and barred from meeting
on college property in two universities in Ontario, pro-life stalls vandalized
in Manitoba…” The German Law Journal explains, “Although
the dangers of hate speech are concededly abstract, they are nevertheless seen
as being real enough to warrant management by the government, whose task in
this area can be termed as control of the political climate [emphasis
mine].” This is the clear intent of hate crime laws: ultimately to control
whatever the government defines as “hate speech,” thus “controlling
the political climate”—and silencing objectors like those who fight
for life.
But more on Germany later—there’s even more bad news from Canada.
Last November, students at the University of Calgary faced police intimidation
for their campus pro-life display. The university demanded that their large
color photographs “face inwards”—obvious censorship—and
threatened arrest and expulsion. The students courageously erected their display,
which was no less gory than previous displays such as of torture in China.
“Under the watchful eye of numerous media cameras, the university did not
arrest the students. But two months later, the university instructed Calgary
police to deliver summons to these same students -- privately at their homes,
with no media present.” This
quote comes from John Carpay, a lawyer for the students, published in the National
Post. These
students have been charged with “trespassing” on their own campus,
and will appear in court this Feb. 27.
Also this month, in Nova Scotia, pro-life presenters at St. Mary’s University
were commanded to disband. Protestors descended on the event, which was called “Echoes
of the Holocaust,” with “chants and yells,” disrupting the
main speaker less than a minute into his speech, yelling, “No hate speech
in our school!”
“They continued to shout until [the speaker] was forced to type on the
projected screen in order to get his message to the audience…” Campus
security did nothing, and then an administrator
told the pro-lifers to break up the meeting!
Federal “anti-hate” laws were not even used in every case—official
antagonism is so great that authorities used trumped-up charges of “harassment” and “trespassing” to
persecute pro-lifers. Hate laws turn this antagonism into a clubbed fist because
they empower the government to define the pro-life position itself—regardless
of any action taken—as “hate.” That makes any pro-lifer vulnerable
to prosecution the moment he or she takes a stand.
Hate Laws in Germany
Elsewhere, federal hate laws have already shown their practically exponential
power. In 2007 in Ireland, a
pro-lifer was arrested for displaying “offensive” material.
She was detained and her “display board showing photographs of abortions
was also seized.” Police showed up after just an hour of sharing leaflets
and collecting signatures. Apparently someone found the work “offensive.”
It is terrifying that the words “offensive,” “hurtful,” or “hateful” have
now become actionable legal concepts. This alone should spring pro-lifers into
protest against hate laws. What could be more “hurtful” than showing
an image of an aborted fetus to a woman who killed her child? What could be
more “hateful” than stating the truth that abortionists kill babies?
The simple truth about this loaded issue can unsettle communities and hurt
feelings—and that’s the point of pro-life protest! Few areas of
public debate are more threatened by hate laws.
The German Law
Journal explains the intentional vagueness of Germany’s own federal “anti-hate” law:
Similar to applicable provisions of international law, German statutes
specifically refrain from requiring that racist [or other
politically incorrect] messages lead to a clear and present danger of
imminent lawless action before becoming punishable [emphasis mine].
A distant and generalized threat to the public peace and to life
and dignity, particularly of minorities, suffices for legal sanctions
irrespective of whether and when such danger would actually manifest
itself…hate speech is generally prohibited—it is "speech
minus" or "low-value speech," even if it addresses
issues of high political importance.
Shamelessly this journal says German laws criminalize pure speech—even
if it doesn’t incite violence! Any speech that might create a “distant
and generalized threat to the public peace…suffices for legal sanctions!”
Germany first picked on Johannes Lerle, an outspoken Lutheran pastor
few people will defend. In 2007, Lerle
was sentenced to one year in prison for a sermon comparing abortion to
the Holocaust. He was charged with “inciting the people.” According
to one source, Lerle previously spent 8 months in jail for calling abortionists “professional
killers.” The court said that was slander since the unborn aren’t
humans, so abortionists aren’t killers.
There is controversy over whether Lerle was jailed for being pro-life or
being “anti-Semitic.” Regardless,
the pastor was jailed for speech, not a physical crime or violent act. Tragically,
his association with “anti-Semitism” and his alleged Holocaust
denial caused most American Christians to either fail to defend, or retract
their defense, of Lerle.
Two years previously, “In 2005, a German pro-lifer, Günter
Annen, was sentenced to 50 days in jail for saying 'Stop unjust [rechtswidrige]
abortions in [medical] practice,' because, according to the court, the expression
'unjust' is understood by laymen as meaning illegal, which abortions are
not.”
Throughout Europe, pro-lifers face stigmatization which will eventually
make them as detestable as Lerle the “anti-Semite.” In Britain, the BBC
this month again aired a two-part drama that portrays pro-lifers as violent
terrorists who kidnap children and lethally inject one of their hostages.
These incidents in Canada and Europe pose a sober warning to the American
pro-life movement. For the last decade, our National Prayer Network has
faithfully warned pro-lifers that they are in the crosshairs of “anti-hate” legislation.
Yet, many seem to view white supremacists or critics of homosexuality as the
only ones who should fear hate laws. Wake up!
If you believe in the sanctity of life, you must protest HR
256 and 262 to Congress. Call 1-877-851-6437 toll free or 1-202-225-3121
toll. Also, alert your pro-life organization about how hate laws can persecute
and even destroy the pro-life movement in America. Watch
our recent 10-minute video, How to Kill the Hate Bills — and
take action.
We must rescue the lives of women and helpless, innocent babies from abortion.
But pro-lifers must also save the freedom of the living. Otherwise,
we will have no voice left to speak for the unborn.
