Florida Democrat Leader Wants to Arrest Street Preachers, Counselors Outside Abortion Clinics
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Standing on the sidewalk and preaching the gospel could be considered criminal activity in the state of Florida, if one Democrat lawmaker gets her way.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D-Broward) filed SB 254 – a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to “picket or protest” near an abortion clinic.
Violators would be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $500 and up to 60 days in jail.
Specifically, the bill prohibits such actions inside of or within 150 feet of a healthcare facility. The state of Florida recognizes abortion clinics as healthcare facilities. The proposal would require law enforcement to issue a warning prior to making an arrest, but the individual can be arrested if he continues protesting.
“Women deserve access to legitimate and trusted reproductive healthcare services, and the freedom to safely receive care without fear of misinformation, harassment, or harm,” Sen. Book stated in a press release announcing the bill.
“It's long past time for Florida to prioritize women's health, protect the safety of doctors and patients, and ensure that public funds are directed toward accurate and accountable healthcare services.”
When asked about First Amendment concerns, Book’s communications director Jossie Barroso responded: “The free speech zone simply shifts the line back for the safety and privacy of doctors and patients. The language is based on similar laws that regulate protesting and soliciting in places like homes and polling locations.”
Barroso declined to answer The Florida Standard’s questions about whether the law would criminalize the activities of sidewalk counselors and gospel preachers.
MORE RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION PROTESTS
Book’s proposal is the latest legislative effort aimed at curbing pro-life activists from influencing women seeking abortions.
In the 1980’s, a national movement called Operation Rescue organized protests at abortion clinics across America in which dozens of pro-lifers would form human blockades in front of the facility entrances. While the protesters were non-violent, they deterred many women from getting abortions and, in some cases, put the clinics out of business. The group’s motto was: “If you believe abortion is murder, act like it’s murder.”
Congress responded to Operation Rescue by passing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which President Clinton signed into law in 1994. The legislation effectively ended the movement by threatening first-time violators with six months in prison. Repeat offenders face 18 months. In 1993, over 1,200 pro-life activists were arrested for their “rescue” attempts. In 1994, that number plummeted to 217.
In September of 2023, three pro-lifers made national news after they were charged with violating the FACE Act. The activists are now facing 11 years in prison.
FREE SPEECH VIOLATION?
While SB 254 might upset pro-lifers, it’s unlikely it would be struck down by the courts, according to one freedom of speech expert.
Barak Lurie, an attorney specializing in First Amendment cases, says Book’s proposal would fall under the “reasonable restrictions” on speech that are already recognized under the law known as “time, place and manner.”
Lurie cited the same examples as Barrosso, noting that a person is not free to loudly protest within a neighborhood in the middle of the night, regardless of the message.
“It’s not the content, it’s the time, place and manner in which you are doing it,” Lurie told The Florida Standard. “Reasonable limitations on how you express yourself are understood and respected in the Constitution. This is one of those situations.”
PREGNANCY CENTERS
Book also filed SB 256 last week, which she says will regulate “fake reproductive health clinics called crisis pregnancy centers” by exposing “deceptive practices in these state-funded anti-abortion facilities that exploit women without accountability.”
The bill restricts the materials that the centers can give to women to those that strictly contain “medically accurate” information. Additionally, they must provide women with information on local rape crisis centers and sexual assault treatment centers. The centers would also become subject to annual audits and unannounced visits from the state health department.
Crisis pregnancy centers represent the pro-life alternative to abortion clinics. They provide pregnancy resources and support – services like ultrasounds and counseling – often free of charge. Unlike abortion clinics though, they steer women away from abortion.
Book’s accusation of “deceptive practices” alludes to the strategic branding and location of many pregnancy centers, which often set up shop across the street from abortion clinics and choose similar sounding names for their establishment. For example, in Jacksonville, one crisis pregnancy center is named First Coast Women’s Services.
PRO-LIFE GROUPS RESPOND
Pro-life leaders in Florida decried both bills and blasted Book’s motivation for the proposals.
Andrew Shirvell, founder and executive director of Florida Voice for the Unborn, called them “nothing more than the latest publicity stunts from an irrelevant, fanatically pro-abortion Democrat faction within a pro-life supermajority Florida Legislature.”
Shirvell added that he trusts the state’s Republican lawmakers to “ensure that these bills never receive a hearing in any legislative committees or subcommittees during the upcoming 2024 Legislative Session.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that Lauren Book wants to stop people from trying to convince women against murdering their children,” Bonnie Cannone, president of Abolish Abortion Florida, said. “Of course, if our ‘pro-life’ legislators were to actually criminalize abortion murder under existing homicide laws, we would no longer need sidewalk counselors.”
“SB 254 and SB 256 jointly are a direct attack on the work of wonderful pro-life advocates seeking to protect the lives of precious babies and their mothers, both on the sidewalks outside of abortion clinics and inside the pregnancy care centers,” said Aaron DiPietro, legislative affairs director for the Florida Family Policy Council.
DiPietro called SB 254 “a move to curb the freedom of speech of pro-life advocates” and said SB 256 is an “attempt to slander the amazing work” of crisis pregnancy center workers, whom he considers “unsung heroes in the state of Florida.”