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A pro-life activist who was jailed after silently praying outside a Michigan abortion facility has asked the US Supreme Court to intervene in his case, asking the justices to decide whether an ordinance violated his First and Fifth Amendment rights.
The Christian Post reported that Matthew Connolly was convicted of violating an ordinance in Southfield that bans causing “annoyance” or “disquiet” in public areas following a protest outside a local abortion facility in April 2022. According to the petition filed with the Supreme Court, Connolly knelt in prayer in the common area of a shared office building, in which the abortion facility is located. He never entered the abortion facility and officers described his actions as “peaceful.”
The Christian Post reported that Connolly refused a probation condition that would have prevented him from holding pro-life conversations within 500 feet of any abortion facility in the country, instead choosing jail time and a fine.
In the petition, Connolly’s attorneys with Advocates for Faith & Freedom ask the Supreme Court to overturn the Southfield ordinance, requesting that the justices answer whether the due process clause and Connolly’s free speech rights should have protected him from prosecution.
According to The Christian Post, attorney Erin Mersino said that Connolly’s case is not only about him.
“It is about whether the government can silence pro-life Americans and criminalize public prayer,” she said. “If this unconstitutional gag order is allowed to stand, then no one’s speech is safe.”
Mersino continued, “We are asking the United States Supreme Court to do what the Constitution already demands — protect the right of Americans, especially those who advocate for the sanctity of life, to speak freely, assemble peacefully, and pray publicly.”
Connolly has faced legal challenges to his pro-life activism before, as CatholicVote previously reported. In September, the U.S. Department of Justice, under the Biden administration, sued Connolly for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by locking himself in a Planned Parenthood bathroom in August 2021. Connolly remained in the restroom for more than three hours, causing staff and clients to evacuate the building and requiring a SWAT team to remove him. His actions also caused 44 appointments at Planned Parenthood to be rescheduled.
