Pro-life man banned from sidewalk counseling in New York wins in court

A pro-life New York man who was told that his organization is prohibited from sidewalk counseling outside an abortion facility has won his case in court.

Jim Havens of Rochester, New York, is the founder of Rochester (ROC) Love with End Abortion, a sidewalk counseling ministry. According to Catholic Vote, after Havens was told that his organization could not share abortion alternatives with women outside of a Rochester Planned Parenthood, he sued New York Attorney General Letitia James and the City of Rochester for the violation of his First Amendment Rights. He was represented by attorneys from the non-profit Thomas More Society law firm.

“The reason given for this violation of his First Amendment rights was a court-ordered injunction issued against different parties in a 2005 court action,” Havens’ attorneys explained.

According to Bloomberg Law, Havens was not mentioned in that 2005 court order which had created a 15-foot buffer zone around local abortion businesses, and therefore was not subject to it, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said. Havens wasn’t even a sidewalk counselor in that area until 12 years later, in 2017.

READ: Sidewalk counselor sues over Colorado buffer zone law

“When the Thomas More Society pointed that out to the City of Rochester in September 2018, the city agreed and notified us that Havens and ROC would not be covered by the existing injunction,” explained Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Thomas Olp. “But that position was reversed when the State of New York got involved,” said Olp. “For that reason, Havens and ROC sued the State and City to secure his First Amendment rights and to prevent them from applying the 2005 injunction — in which he was not named — to him and his ministry.”

After working its way through the courts, the case was eventually sent back to the lower court with orders to apply the decision from the appellate court, which said Havens is not subject to the 2005 injunction.

According to Havens, his great-grandmother was told by her doctor to secretly abort her eleventh grandchild. She refused, giving birth to Havens’ grandmother in 1931. “One abortion impacts generations of others in ways we cannot fully comprehend or even imagine,” Havens explained in an article on his website.

But he isn’t just praying outside these businesses. One Saturday, he saw a couple outside the building and learned they were in financial need. He offered to throw them a baby shower to provide for their material needs for the baby, and the couple canceled the abortion. This act of kindness and generosity is what the NY government attempted to prevent.