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CV NEWS FEED // The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has agreed to pay $450,000 in attorneys’ fees after settling a lawsuit over sidewalk counseling with a pro-life ministry last year.
CatholicVote previously reported that Pro-Life Action Ministries were unconstitutionally barred from standing on public sidewalks around a Minneapolis Planned Parenthood location to offer support and counseling to women seeking abortions.
Pro-Life Action Ministries sued in 2023, alleging that the buffer zone law violated its advocates’ rights to free speech, freedom of expressive association, and freedom of religious expression.
Though the lawsuit was settled in favor of Pro-Life Action Ministries Dec. 18, the attorneys’ fees payment by the city was not determined until later. According to MPR News, the Minneapolis City Council signed an agreement for the thousands of dollars in attorneys fees March 13.
Pro-Life Action Ministries was represented in court by the Thomas More Society. Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation, secured the payment from the city. In an emailed statement to CatholicVote, he called the payment a “total victory for free speech and the pro-life movement.”
“The City of Minneapolis’ capitulation and agreement to pay nearly a half-million dollars in fees and costs reflects the strength of our case and demonstrates the importance of vigorously defending fundamental freedoms in court,” Breen stated. “Politicians seeking to hinder and silence the efforts of pro-life sidewalk counselors should think twice—or it will cost them.”
In addition to paying the fees, the city also amended its restrictive buffer zone law in December to exempt organizations like Pro-Life Action Ministries. Sidewalk counseling outside Minneapolis’ abortion facilities is now a constitutionally protected activity, CatholicVote previously reported.
>>READ: Pro-life legal win in Minneapolis allows sidewalk counseling to continue<<
At the time of the legal victory, Pro-Life Action Ministries CEO Brian Gibson called the decision a “win for the unborn babies.”
“Having our rights restored will increase the possibility to help women and save more babies from abortion,” he stated in a December release. “Other cities need to take note to never simply do Planned Parenthood’s bidding and interfere with citizens’ Constitutional rights.”
