Exclusive | Pro-life group offers to pay legal fees for activists who defy New Jerseys new abortion law
WASHINGTON — An international pro-life group is offering to foot the bill for activists who wind up in the crosshairs of a law signed by New Jersey Gov.Mikie Sherrill (D) last week to crack down on protests near abortion facilities.
40 Days For Life raised concerns that vague language in that bill about intimidation and threats could be stretched to target peaceful pro-lifers who want to pray for the unborn outside abortion centers.“Prayer is not a crime.
Holding a sign is not intimidation. Offering a woman help is not coercion,” the group’s CEO Shawn Carney told The Post.“This law is designed to scare people of faith off the sidewalks outside abortion facilities by creating the constant threat of prosecution and costly lawsuits.”“We will not be intimidated,” he went on.
“If the state tries to weaponize this law against constitutionally protected speech, our Institute of Law & Justice will be there to defend them at no cost.”Carney’s group stressed that the protesters must have been engaged in peaceful activity in order to get its legal support.The law in question, S2260/A2218, imposes criminal penalties on those who “injure, threaten, intimidate, or physically block patients or providers,” or do damage to property related to “reproductive healthcare services,” per a press release.
It also expanded the Garden State’s shield law to restrict Garden State facilities from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into New Jerseyans who violate their laws on transgender surgeries.That comes on top of New Jersey’s existing shield law for abortion.
40 Days for Life runs nine vigils in New Jersey annually, with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 participants, The Post has been told.But Sherrill’s office insists the new law won’t be weaponized against pro-life activists who are simply praying for an end to the controversial procedure.
“Of course peaceful prayer is protected,” the governor’s spokesperson Steve Sigmund told ...