Florida Pro-Life Advocate Wins Battle to Counsel Outside Abortion Clinic

January 18, 2012

A federal judge in West Palm Beach, Fla., recently ended a two-year saga in which Attorney General Eric Holder sought repeatedly to fine a pro-life educator and ban her from counseling women on the public sidewalk outside an abortion clinic, the Christian Post reports. Mary Susan Pine, founder of a pro-life organization and a 10-year veteran of ministering to women outside the clinic, was accused in 2009 by a police officer and the Department of Justice of obstructing the entrance and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, but the Liberty Counsel was successful in defending her case. Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp stated the government lacked evidence to prove Pine violated the law, criticized Holder's efforts as unconstitutional, and said the court could not understand why the government chose to prosecute Pine in the first place.