MILWAUKEE — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a
lawsuit Monday against the city of Milwaukee on behalf of several pro-life advocates to end a long pattern of harassment. For years, numerous pro-life advocates peacefully sharing their messages have been arrested, jailed, cited, harassed, threatened, and even physically assaulted. This has occurred even though they have maintained, out of an abundance of caution, a distance of at least 25 feet from any abortion clinic because of a 1993 court order issued against unrelated parties.
“Pro-life advocates shouldn’t be punished and discriminated against for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. “Treating these peaceful demonstrators as criminals is a crime in itself, not to mention a blatant violation and suppression of their First Amendment rights.”
In 1993, a court order against 38 defendants prohibited them from sharing their message within 25 feet of abortion clinics in Milwaukee. Nonetheless, since that time, virtually all other pro-life advocates in the city attempting to peacefully express their views have been victims of harassment and discrimination by local authorities, who often cite inapplicable city ordinances to justify their actions. The lawsuit also alleges that certain local officials have conspired with area abortion clinics to deprive pro-life advocates the equal protection and enforcement of the law.
Pro-life advocate Tom Pelkey has repeatedly been the victim of excessive force, once while being handcuffed and thrown into city jail for displaying a pro-life sign, even though he held it in a manner compliant with a police officer’s unlawful directive. While holding a pro-life sign on another occasion, Pelkey was pushed over a fire hydrant and injured by a woman who admitted her anger over his sign spurred the attack. Pelkey didn’t address or even see the woman as she was approaching the clinic, and Planned Parenthood videotape of the incident shows he was distracted by a phone call at the time. Nonetheless, police refused to arrest the assailant. In another incident, in which police did nothing after an Affiliated Medical Clinic employee kicked Pelkey, clinic personnel can be heard on surveillance video saying, “These police officers have become our friends.”
Alex and Ana Marie Doak, who are also plaintiffs in the suit, were threatened with arrest for child abuse and neglect for bringing their four-month-old son along for their sidewalk counseling activities. Three squad cars arrived, and seven police officers surrounded and interrogated the mother, who was peacefully handing out pamphlets and occasionally saying in a soft voice, “Children are the blessing of God. We kept ours. Would you please keep yours?” An officer cited her husband for disturbing the peace.
Officers have also routinely bullied citizens for expressing their religious viewpoints on the sanctity of human life and have even threatened them with arrest for standing on public sidewalks while engaging in free speech.
“Pro-life advocates should not be harassed or charged under inapplicable ordinances simply for exercising their First Amendment rights,” said ADF-allied attorney Fintan Dooley of Milwaukee, local counsel in the case. “The city acknowledges that these citizens have not impeded access to clinic entrances. Our goal is to have their First Amendment rights recognized and restored.”
Storms v. City of Milwaukee was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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