Contact: Contact: Allison Aranda,
Life Legal Defense Foundation,
707-227-6675 SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Nov. 29, 2016 /
Christian Newswire/
-- Last month, Father James Linton was arrested outside the San
Bernardino Planned Parenthood for offering to pray with women entering
the abortion facility. Police held him for six hours and cited him for
interfering with and obstructing access to a business. On November 2,
the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office formally charged
Linton, accusing him of violating Penal Code section 602.1 (a)
(Interference with a Business). If convicted, Fr. Linton could be
sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and a $400 fine.
When he was
arrested, Fr. Linton, an Anglican pastor, was standing on a public
easement offering incoming mothers and fathers alternatives to abortion
and praying for them to change their minds. "The arrest of Fr. Linton
is outrageous," stated Allison Aranda, Senior Staff Counsel for the
Life Legal Defense Foundation and a former prosecutor for Riverside
County. "Fr. Linton certainly did not intend to interfere with Planned
Parenthood's ability to conduct its business. Rather, he simply offered
assistance and alternatives to its patrons that could save the lives of
their precious babies."
Last year, the Center for Medical
Progress released the videos of its undercover investigation of Planned
Parenthood. At the time, Fr. Linton's wife was pregnant with their
third child. "The combination of seeing abortion victims sorted through
for parts and my wife being pregnant destroyed me," he said. "She
organized a protest and I've been in front of the clinic every Friday
since."
Every Friday, starting at 6 a.m., the San Bernardino
Planned Parenthood performs abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Due
in part to Fr. Linton's faithful presence and success at saving babies,
the abortion facility recently built a wall in an attempt to hinder
sidewalk counselors and prevent them from speaking to mothers and
fathers in the parking lot.
Fr. Linton and the other sidewalk
counselors outside the San Bernardino Planned Parenthood are doing
nothing more than exercising their Constitutional right to speak freely
on the public sidewalk and rights of way in their community. They are
not violating the law. "In fact, the code section under which Fr.
Linton was charged, specifically exempts from criminal liability, those
who are engaging in activities that are protected by the California
and United States Constitution," Ms. Aranda noted.
Life Legal
will vigorously defend Fr. Linton from these false charges and we will
fight to preserve and protect the rights of all sidewalk counselors to
share life saving information with mothers entering the San Bernardino
abortion clinic.
About Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life
Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit
organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens
committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and
their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our
nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation,
visit www.lldf.org.
