The pro-abortion attorney general of the U.S. state of Maine has sued a pastor for preaching outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Portland.
Attorney General Janet Mills has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Christian evangelical pastor Brian Ingalls, 26, and is asking the court to bar him from 50 feet of the abortion provider's facility or any Planned Parenthood location in Maine, according to Christian News Network.
In her lawsuit, Mills contends that Ingalls's act is a violation of the Maine Civil Right Act "for any person to intentionally make such noise that can be heard within a building of a health care provider, when that noise is made with the intent to jeopardise the health of person receiving health services."
Planned Parenthood has been under fire and is currently being investigated by the U.S. House committee on allegations of harvesting and selling of body parts of aborted babies.
The Portland clinic is the only one among four facilities in Maine that performs abortions, which total about 2,000 per year.
Mills alleged that on Oct. 23, Ingalls "was yelling up towards the second floor of the building at 443 Congress Street about murdering babies, aborted babies' blood and Jesus."
"Defendant Ingalls' yelling was so loud that it could be heard within the examination and counselling rooms of the building and disrupted the safe and effective delivery of health services, particularly the counselling that staff was attempting to provide its patients," the lawsuit read.
She said Ingalls did not lower his voice after being told by a police officer to do so and said his passionate preaching "demonstrates his intent to interfere with the safe and effective delivery of health services at Planned Parenthood."
"All patients have the right to receive medical services free of 'the cacophony of political protests,' in the words of the United States Supreme Court," she said in a statement. "While protesters have every right to say anything they want in a public area in the vicinity of a medical facility, they are not permitted to disrupt another citizen's health care services."
This is the first time in Maine that the Civil Rights Act has been used against Christians.
If Mills is successful, Ingalls faces a $5,000 fine for each violation
"For reasons that can only be described as politically motivated, the attorney general has transformed an unverified noise complaint by Planned Parenthood into a civil rights complaint against a young Christian pro-life advocate," said the Thomas More Law Center, which is defending Ingalls in court.
It added, "Sadly, through her baseless lawsuit, the attorney general threatens to fine a young hard-working father and Christian up to $5,000 for peacefully preaching the Bible on the public sidewalk."
