This City Harassed a Pro-Life Sidewalk Counselor Over Vague Sign Ordinance, Arbitrary Enforcement

Americans may peacefully protest, but bureaucrats in Carbondale, Illinois, don’t think pro-lifers should protest abortion in public.

The city allows temporary signs, but no sign can be erected on the public right of way, among other locations. Brandon Hamman, a pro-life sidewalk counselor and missionary, said that his pro-life signs are legal.

But a city official told him to remove his signs because they violated the city’s sign ordinance. Hamman explained that the signs didn’t violate to ordinance, and that he had the constitutional right to protest abortion. The bureaucrat said he did not have such a right.

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents Hamman, is fighting for his right to protest the killing of voiceless and vulnerable unborn babies and offer pregnant women the resources they need to protect their babies.

Officials clearly revealed their biases against advocating for unborn life, subjecting Hamman to “a shifting maze of contradictory rules and arbitrary enforcement” and threatening to arrest him. From ACLJ:

First, city officials claimed that Brandon’s signs offering “free baby supplies” were not a proper “demonstration.” When he replaced them with purely expressive messages like “We will adopt your baby” and “Love your preborn neighbor as yourself,” the city still declared them unlawful.

ACLJ called the temporary sign ordinance “unconstitutionally vague because it fails to distinguish ‘public property’ and ‘right of way’ and requires an ordinary citizen to go research plat maps to determine appropriate places to stick signs in the ground.”

ACLJ recently argued Hamman’s case in federal court.

“This case is about more than one man’s ability to hold a sign. It’s about whether local officials can use poorly written laws as weapons to suppress religious and pro-life viewpoints. If Carbondale can get away with this, no one’s speech is safe.”

Photo credit: ACLJ

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