PRO-LIFE GROUPS HAVE NO POLICE PROTECTION! NO "EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER THE LAW!!! "

Harassment of Pro-Life Citizens Outlined; Video Confirms Bias 

Columbus, OH – July 23, 2014 – In the aftermath of Jackson Police being caught on tape standing by as an abortion advocate systematically stole pro-lifers signs (see link to video below), Life Legal Defense Foundation filed a lawsuit against the City of Jackson Mississippi Police Department in United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson Division. 

• Watch the video of Jackson Police standing by as our pro-life display is dismantled and stolen.

The not-for-profit law firm is representing Pro-Life Mississippi in the case charging the city's law enforcement division with blatant and ongoing violation of free speech rights of pro-life advocates. 

Mark Harrington, Executive Director for Created Equal said, "It was like we were transported back to the 1960's as racists police stood idly by and allowed the KKK to violate the rights of the Freedom Riders.  Apparently, little has changed in Jackson, MS."
Dana Cody, President and Executive Director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, explained the case: "The Jackson Police Department has routinely harassed pro-life citizens, who have been peacefully exercising their legal right to oppose abortion in the public square and offer information about alternatives to women seeking abortion."
The case revolves around activities outside of the state's only abortion clinic, the Jackson Women's Health Organization. The lawsuit cites multiple incidents of similarly biased conduct by Jackson officers and references a previous court order reining in the behavior of the city's police department. 

• Read the Life Legal Defense Foundation court filing in United States District Court HERE.

Repeated Jackson Police Department harassment of pro-life advocates on the public ways dates back to before 1996. Recent documented incidents include:

• June 2014 - Threats of arrest for exiting a parked vehicle to share pro-life literature on a public sidewalk
  
• March 2014 - Multiple threats of arrest and orders that pro-life speakers relocate, including those who met to pray against abortion
  
• February 2014 and December 2013 - Arrests of those with pro-life signs or literature for sitting in chairs on public property or public right-of-ways
  
• January 2014 - Detention and threats of arrest for noise violations for those speaking – without amplification – about pro-life matters
  
• October 2013 and April 2013 - Threats to arrest those with pro-life signs or literature for sitting in chairs or public property or public right of ways
  
• March 2013 and February 2013 - Arrests of those holding pro-life signs for obstructing a public sidewalk.
  

Created Equal is a social action movement seeking to end the greatest human rights injustice of our time.   Killing preborn babies is nothing less than age-based discrimination.  Abortion robs us of our future.  Our goal is to restore the true meaning of equality to include equal protection between the born and the preborn.  
For justice sake we stand,

Mark Harrington, Executive Director, Created Equal