On October 6, 2011, attorneys with Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL.org), Alliance Defense Fund, and Law of Life Project, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District (federal) court against the City of Austin on behalf of Austin LifeCare, one of several Austin-based pregnancy resource center affected by the ordinance (press release dated 10/6/11 attached).

On Nov. 13, 2011, litigation against this original ordinance was ‘stayed’ (postponed) by the Court until early February 2012, and the City of Austin agreed to not enforce the ordinance for the same period of time, allowing time for the City to consider whether to simply repeal, or repeal and then replace the original ordinance.

Today, the City of Austin decided to repeal ‘Chapter 10-9 – Limited Service Pregnancy Centers’ completely and replace it with ‘Chapter 10-10 – Limited Service Pregnancy Centers’ (copy attached). The newly adopted ordinance, requires an “owner or operator” of a pregnancy center to “prominently display, outside the entrance of the Center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that truthfully disclose the following information: (i) whether the center has a licensed health care provider or practitioner directly supervising all medical services; and (ii) whether the center is licensed or regulated by a state or federal regulatory entity to provide medical services.” As before, violators can be issued criminal citations and assessed fines of up to $450 per incident.
 
COMMENTS:
Greg Terra, TCDL President & CEO said:
“My Chief Counsel, Stephen Casey, and I appeared in person at the Austin City Council meeting in April of 2010 and warned council members that the original ordinance was unconstitutional and if passed would be challenged with a lawsuit, but the City of Austin disregarded our warnings and unanimously passed it anyway.

Then, before we actually filed our lawsuit, we hand-delivered two separate letters to the Austin City Attorney Karen Kennard, as ‘shots across the bow,’ warning her of the blatant unconstitutionality of the ordinance and asking her to notify us in writing that it would never be enforced. In October of last year, when Ms. Kennard declined to respond to either letter we finally filed our lawsuit in federal court in Austin.”

“Today, the City finally repealed the original ordinance, but not before our combined legal teams have accrued tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, which we intend to pass along to the City of Austin and therefore to Austin taxpayers.”

“This new ordinance is equally unconstitutional for reasons detailed in a letter emailed by our co-counsel, Law of Life project, to attorneys representing Austin earlier this week (copy attached). We therefore intend to amend our current lawsuit and continue the fight in federal court, and we have no doubt that we will prevail in the end. Although we have advised the City against adoption of this new ordinance, we will be more than happy to collect additional legal fees from the City to help fund the important legal work we will be doing in other pro-life cases.”

Stephen Casey, TCDL Vice President and Chief Counsel added:
“Even with the wording changes, the ordinance would still unconstitutionally target a few centers for their religious views. Similar ordinances have been held unconstitutional, and we are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree if and when this case gets there. We think it would be wise for Austin to repeal and stop the litigation while there is still an ongoing national question about the issue, but as Greg said we will be happy to collect more legal fees from the City.”
 
The Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal representation and support to pro-life organizations and individuals in Texas, and to aggressively defending the sanctity of innocent human life in Texas and federal courts
 

If you are being pressured or forced into having an abortion you need to see this video. No one can force you not your boyfriend not your parents, not your boyfriend’s parents.

The teenager’s family members had scheduled an appointment for her to have the abortion at a local Corpus Christi clinic this week. The girl has been under intense pressure to have the abortion, was physically assaulted last week by one family member, and has been prevented from attending school. The unborn child’s teenage father and his mother also do not want the baby killed and have supported the girl’s decision to keep the child. The court order prohibits the girl’s family members “either directly or indirectly from forcing her to have an abortion against her will,” which includes taking her to any abortion clinic.

“Roe v. Wade and ‘choice’ go both ways… if it protects the constitutional rights of a girl or woman to have an abortion, oftentimes without even parental notification or consent, it likewise protects the right of that same girl or woman to not have an abortion against her will” said TCDL President and CEO Greg Terra.

“No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life–especially one that belongs to someone else–is worthless. The right to not have an abortion is protected by law, and this right is not relinquished just because someone else considers the child to be an unwanted burden,” said TCDL Vice President and Chief Counsel Stephen Casey.

The 13-year-old high school student, who is carrying a 7-week-old pre-born child, is now even more resolved in her decision to keep her child. After suffering through several days of coercion and distress, the young woman’s friends contacted a local pregnancy center which, through various channels, was put in contact with Texas Center for Defense of Life.

“We intend to fully support this young woman in her desire to allow her child to live,” said Greg Terra. “Every mother has the legal right to keep her unborn child, against the coercion of others, and we intend to support her decision in this case.”

The motion for TRO was filed by TCDL attorneys in the 347th District Court of Nueces County, Texas. A temporary injunction hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2012, where the court will decide whether to approve an injunction for the duration of the pregnancy.

The Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal representation and support to pro-life organizations and individuals in Texas, and to aggressively defending the sanctity of innocent human life in Texas and federal courts.

Austin LifeCare takes down its City-Imposed disclaimer sign after it is told by the City’s lawyers that the City is suspending enforcement of its Ordinance.

Austin, Texas (Friday, October 11, 2011). Austin LifeCare, through its attorneys from the Texas Center for the Defense of Life (TCDL), the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), and the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project (JC-LOLP) expressed thanks Thursday to the City of Austin for temporarily agreeing in Court today, through their legal counsel, that Austin LifeCare may take down the sign the City required them to post while the City takes a closer look at the constitutionality of the City’s law that singles out Austin’s pregnancy resource centers.

The agreement puts on hold, until February 2012, a lawsuit filed on October 6 on behalf of Austin LifeCare, a pregnancy resource center, against the City of Austin. The lawsuit challenges on First Amendment grounds an ordinance that requires pro-life pregnancy centers to post signs declaring that they do not provide abortions and other services.

“We are thankful to the City that it will take a closer look at its ordinance, and that in the meantime Austin LifeCare can continue to offer real help and hope to women without posting the City’s message,” said TCDL President, Greg Terra. Federal District Court Judge Lee Yeakel with the parties’ agreement ordered the case to be stayed at least until February 3, 2012, when the parties will provide a status update to the court.

Another federal judge struck down a similar Baltimore ordinance in January, after which ADF attorneys secured an initial injunction against an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., and recently won an injunction that suspends an ordinance in New York City. On October 12, 2011, attorneys for Austin LifeCare filed a motion for preliminary injunction in this case for argument later this month, which is now being put on hold by the Court while Austin LifeCare is freed to cease its compliance with the Ordinance.

JC-LOLP’s General Counsel, Sam Casey, Austin LifeCare’s lead trial counsel in the case, said: “We applaud the City of Austin for finally answering in Court today our letters sent to its City Attorney in April and August asking the City to suspend its enforcement against our client and consider repealing this facially unconstitutional Ordinance, particularly when there is no evidence that any pregnancy resource center in Austin is doing anything but freely providing a multitude of pregnancy services to women and men who are faced with an unintended pregnancy.”

In April 2010, the Austin City Council passed an ordinance to restrict the operations of what it calls “Limited Service Pregnancy Centers,” facilities that help pregnant women carry their babies to term without offering abortions, referrals to abortionists, or so-called “comprehensive birth control services.”

Under the ordinance, centers such as Austin LifeCare are required to “prominently display, at the entrance of the center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that state as follows: ‘This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices.’”

The first offense is punishable by a minimum $250 fine; a minimum fine of $350 is issued for the second offense and a minimum $450 fine for the third. The fines only apply to individuals or organizations that primarily provide counseling information about pregnancy services or options. The ordinance does not require centers performing or referring for abortions to post any kind of signs about services that they do not offer.

Contact: Greg Terra or Stephen Casey
Phone: (512) 763-9068
E-Mail: (greg@tcdl.org)or(stephen@tcdl.org)

AUSTIN, TX – Today, attorneys with the Texas Center for Defense of Life (www.TCDL.org), Law of Life Project in Washington, DC (www.lawoflifeproject.org) and Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Arizona (http://www.alliancedefensefund.org) filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the City of Austin on behalf of Austin LifeCare (www.austinlifecare.com), a local pregnancy resource center (PRC), regarding an ordinance passed by the Austin City Council in April, 2010 that requires PRCs to post signs stating that they do not perform abortions or refer their clients out for abortions.

The ordinance requires Austin-based pregnancy centers to “prominently display, at the entrance of the center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that state as follows: ‘This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices.’”

The offense, punishable as a misdemeanor, carries a minimum fines of $250 (1st offense), $350 (2nd offense), and $450 (3rd offense). In sharp contrast, centers that provide abortions or refer for abortions are not required to post any sign about services they don’t offer.

Similar ordinances have been enacted and then struck down by federal judges in three other jurisdictions within the last several months, namely (in chronological order): Baltimore, MD, Montgomery County, MD, and New York City. All these ordinances, including the Austin ordinance, are sponsored by a national pro-abortion nonprofit organization, the National Abortion Rights Action League, which has decided to target PRCS throughout the nation. The Austin ordinance threatens PRC staff members with criminal citations and fines for failing to post the signs.

“The Austin ordinance is clearly unconstitutional and will eventually suffer the same fate as all the other similar ordinances passed in other jurisdictions,” said Greg Terra, TCDL President. “These ideologically motivated ordinances seek only to harass and to hinder the free services that pro-life pregnancy centers provide. This ordinance targets pregnancy centers for purely ideological reasons, simply because they are pro-life and encourage women to consider options other than abortion,” he continued.

“This is an offense to the freedom of people to help others,” said Stephen Casey, Chief Counsel for TCDL. “Women are the real ones hurt here, simply because of abortion-minded politicians. Our client’s rights to offer free services and to speak freely about alternatives to abortion are protected under the United States and Texas Constitutions. We’re asking the court to recognize this and also to stop the city from enforcing the ordinance while the case is being litigated.

The Texas Center for Defense of Life is a non-profit 501c3 (status pending) was formed to provide legal representation and support to pro-life organizations and individuals in Texas, and to aggressively defend the sanctity of innocent human life in state and federal courts.

For media questions, please contact the TCDL office at (512) 763-9068 or e-mail Greg Terra (greg@tcdl.org) or Stephen Casey (stephen@tcdl.org) directly.

ADF attorney sound bite:  Matt Bowman

AUSTIN, Texas — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and two pro-life organizations filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Austin LifeCare, a pregnancy resource center, against the city of Austin. The lawsuit challenges an ordinance that forces pro-life pregnancy centers to post signs declaring that they do not provide abortions and other services. Centers that do not post the signs face stiff financial penalties.

After a federal judge struck down a similar Baltimore ordinance in January, ADF attorneys secured an initial injunction against an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., and recently won an injunction that suspends an ordinance in New York City.

“Pregnancy centers, which offer real help and hope to women, shouldn’t be punished by political allies of the abortion industry,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Attacks such as this ordinance are an ideologically motivated attempt to distract from the growing national scandals in the abortion industry. For years, abortionists have preyed on women and girls to generate profits. Now, pro-abortion politicians are trying to give women fewer choices.”

In April 2010, the Austin City Council passed an ordinance to restrict the operations of what it calls “Limited Service Pregnancy Centers,” facilities that help pregnant women carry their babies to term without offering abortions, referrals to abortionists, or so-called “comprehensive birth control services.”

Under the ordinance, centers such as Austin LifeCare are required to “prominently display, at the entrance of the center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that state as follows:  ‘This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices.’”

The first offense is punishable by a minimum $250 fine; a minimum fine of $350 is issued for the second offense and a minimum $450 fine for the third. The fines only apply to individuals or organizations that primarily provide counseling information about pregnancy services or options. The ordinance does not require centers performing or referring for abortions to post any kind of signs about services that they do not offer.

“Because our client’s rights protected by the First Amendment should not continue to be violated, we are also asking the court to stop the ordinance from being enforced while the case continues,” explained lead counsel Samuel B. Casey, managing director of the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project and one of nearly 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance.

Texas Center for the Defense of Life attorneys Greg Terra and Stephen Casey, also ADF-allied attorneys, are serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit, Austin LifeCare v. City of Austin, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas-Austin Division.

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.

Because of that, we’re keeping an eye on this case. The trial court here ordered the patient to undergo surgery over her religious objections. That order has been stayed by the Montana Supreme Court. This is an important tool we use to protect life here in Texas and beyond.

h/t Howard Friedman

Second, the “House of Horrors” abortion doctor, Dr. Kermit Gosnell (I feel odd calling him Doctor. I don’t think he deserves that title) has had his stall tactics denied by his judge. Although Pennsylvania looked the other way for years, the judge looks to be ready to bring him to justice as swiftly as possible. We need to keep an eye on this case, and refuse to let the horrors perpetrated by this monster slip from mind.

Last week they said there wasn’t any training in all of the world that could have educated those employees that sex trafficking was illegal and coerced abortions were unconscionable. (Go ahead, take a sec to think about that one.)

Now they’re claiming that they will retrain their employees, invariably to be on the lookout for obviously illegal behavior? It’s unclear. But Planned Parenthood likes to keep the water murky.

(By the way, did y’all know that the Texas Center for Defense of Life is working to protect young girls being coerced into abortions? Click here to help ‘em out.)