CV NEWS FEED // Jim Havens was told that his sidewalk counseling organization could not share information about abortion and abortion alternatives with women outside of a Rochester Planned Parenthood clinic. So he sued New York Attorney General Letitia James and the City of Rochester for the violation of his First Amendment rights—and won.
Attorneys from the national non-profit law firm Thomas More Society represented Haven.
Thomas More attorneys said in a press release:
Jim Havens—a Rochester, New York, area pro-life advocate—has been vindicated in his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James and the City of Rochester, after both state and city denied him the right to approach an abortion facility to speak in favor of life.
Havens is the founder of Rochester (ROC) Love Will End Abortion, an organization that does sidewalk ministry.
His pro-life beliefs are a family heritage, extending from his great-grandmother. Her doctor recommended a secret abortion for her eleventh child. Havens’ great-grandmother refused, giving birth to Havens’ grandmother in 1931.
“One abortion impacts generations of others in ways we cannot fully comprehend or even imagine,” Havens explained in an article on his website that tells the full story of his pro-life “awakening.”
Havens began praying outside of abortion clinics in college. One Saturday morning, he was struck by the fact that no one else was praying outside the clinic that day. He convinced his fellow rugby players to come with him.
When he saw a couple outside, Havens spoke with them and learned of their financial need while his team waited in the background, praying. Havens offered to throw them a baby shower to provide for their baby’s material needs. The mother was touched, and the couple went inside to cancel their abortion.
Haven’s pro-life journey continued from there, until his local government tried to stop him from sidewalk counseling.
“The reason given for this violation of his First Amendment rights was a court-ordered injunction issued against different parties in a 2005 court action,” Havens’ attorneys explained.
The 2005 court action declared a permanent injunction, also known as a restraining order, against several pro-life advocates. The injunction banned them from going on the public sidewalk within fifteen feet of the entrance to any abortion clinic in Western New York, as the appeal for the Second Circuit stated.
Twelve years later in 2017, Jim Havens—who was not one of the pro-lifers named in the case—began sidewalk counseling in that area.
“When the Thomas More Society pointed that out to the City of Rochester in September 2018, the city agreed and notified us that Havens and ROC would not be covered by the existing injunction,” explained Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Thomas Olp:
But that position was reversed when the State of New York got involved. For that reason, Havens and ROC sued the State and City to secure his First Amendment rights and to prevent them from applying the 2005 injunction—in which he was not named—to him and his ministry.
After going through multiple courts, they eventually won the case.
“The lawsuit was sent back to the lower court with orders to apply the appellate court’s opinion restoring Havens’ and ROC’s First Amendment rights,” their statement said.
