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CV NEWS FEED // Settling a 2023 lawsuit brought by a local pro-life group, the Minneapolis City Council last month unanimously voted to add an amendment to an ordinance that was prohibiting pro-life advocates from counseling outside abortion facilities. The group’s work is now exempt from the ordinance.
Brian Gibson, CEO of the plaintiff organization, Pro-Life Action Ministries, hailed the settlement as “a win for the unborn babies.”
“Having our rights restored will increase the possibility to help women and save more babies from abortion,” Gibson said in a Dec. 18 Thomas More Society (TMS) press release. “Other cities need to take note to never simply do Planned Parenthood’s bidding and interfere with citizens[‘] Constitutional rights.”
In April 2023, Thomas More Society attorneys, on behalf of Pro-Life Action Ministries, sued the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, challenging the city’s 2022 buffer zone ordinance that restricted pro-life sidewalk counseling, according to the release. The plaintiffs argued that the ordinance violated the First Amendment.
On Dec. 5, 2024, the City Council voted 9-0 in favor of an amendment that allows exceptions for “conduct protected by law,” according to the Star Tribune. At the meeting, Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai said that the Council is “unanimous in our support for Planned Parenthood, and we feel this ordinance provides those protections,” according to the news outlet.
“We also want to be sure to provide very specific carve-outs to ensure First Amendment rights are protected and ensure our local authority remains intact,” Chughtai said of the amendment.
Mayor Jacob Frey signed the amendment into law Dec. 10, according to the release. The Star Tribune reports that the City has agreed to pay an estimated $600,000 for the plaintiff’s legal fees.
“Minneapolis thought it could get away with targeting pro-life speech by creating an unconstitutional, content-based no-speech zone — crafted exclusively for the purpose of hamstringing pro-life sidewalk counseling efforts outside of the city’s Planned Parenthood abortion facility,” TMS Vice President Peter Breen said in the press release. “Today, we’ve won a total victory against this sort of viewpoint discrimination, and our dear friends and clients at Pro-Life Action Ministries can go about their life-saving efforts without fear or threat of penalties for sharing their life-saving message.”
