“HOSTILE,” “NOISY,” “IN-YOUR-FACE” | Judge Jackson on Pro-Life Advocates

• Three pro-life women challenged a Massachusetts law that banned them from offering counseling and distributing leaflets outside of abortion clinics 
• A federal district court sided with them, stating that First Amendment rights ensure “[p]ro-life advocates who firmly believe that abortion remains a grave moral evil must be given as equal an opportunity as their opponents” to express their message 
• Judge Jackson disagreed, arguing for pro-abortion groups that the women and the group they were a part of were “a hostile, noisy crowd of ‘in-your-face’ protestors.”
• Here’s a picture of the group she’s referring to: 

• Here’s a picture of one of the plaintiffs in McGuire v. Reilly: 

•  Needless to say, Judge Jackson lost. The Supreme Court ultimately struck down the Massachusetts law as unconstitutional (holding that the law burdened pro-life advocates’ free speech rights substantially more than was necessary to further the government’s interest in maintaining public safety) 

• The Obama administration awarded federal funds to over 80 nonprofit organizations, targeting these funds at abortion providers that marketed their services to teenage girls 
• The Trump administration tried to stop tax dollars from being sent to group providing abortions to teenagers
• Anti-life groups sued and, in each of the cases Judge Jackson heard on the issue, she ruled in favor of the abortion provider:

1. Judge Jackson denied a motion from the Trump administration, allowing the abortion provider Healthy Futures of Texas to sue for federal funding 
2. Judge Jackson also granted Healthy Future of Texas’ request to certify a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration 
3. Judge Jackson ruled against the Trump administration in another case, stating that cutting off federal abortion funds was arbitrary  

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