Pro-lifers in Milwaukee want harassment to stop.
Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defense Fund, tells OneNewsNow there has been a long pattern, lasting more than a decade now, of harassment by local officials towards pro-life advocates. "We've had officers who have routinely bullied these citizens for just merely expressing their religious viewpoints on the sanctity of human life, and they've even been threatened with arrest, actually arrested and even prosecuted, although not successfully, merely for standing on public sidewalks while engaging in their pro-life free speech," Johnson reports. The attorney contends that what the demonstrators are doing is definitely protected by the First Amendment. "People who believe in the pro-life cause shouldn't be punished and discriminated against merely for expressing their beliefs," he says. "I mean, treating these peaceful demonstrators as criminals is a crime in itself, and not to mention a blatant violation and suppression of their free-speech rights." In one case, three squad cars and seven police officers surrounded Alex and Ana Marie Doak, along with their four-month-old son, as the couple was passing out leaflets to women entering an abortion clinic. Ana Marie was threatened with arrest for child abuse and neglect, while officers cited Alex for disturbing the peace. A lawsuit has been filed in the matter.
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