By Dave Andrusko
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When pro-abortion federal Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner rules on the pro-life side, as he did Wednesday, you know the case must be a slam dunk. And it was.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller’s ruling last January that held The Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corp. (Citilink) “was within its rights to prohibit a series of advertisements that Fort Wayne Women’s Health Link wanted to put on the city’s buses,” according to Rebecca S. Green for the Journal Gazette.
Judge Posner described the 11-by-17-inch ad, which the pro-life Women’s Health Link wanted to place on buses in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, as “innocuous.” The ad merely says “You are not alone” and “Free resources for women seeking health care” on “either side of the smiling face of a young woman, with the organization’s website and telephone number on a banner below,” according to Green.
“(Citilink’s) refusal to allow Health Link’s ad to be displayed is an unjustifiable, because arbitrary and discriminatory, restriction of free speech,” Posner wrote in the opinion. “Citilink’s refusal to post the ad was groundless discrimination against constitutionally protected speech.”
Citilink officials twice rejected the proposed ad. “Citilink’s policy allows public service announcements, but it can reject an ad if it contains false or misleading information or if it ‘advocates opinions or positions on political, religious, or moral issues,’ Green wrote, citing court documents.
But
Posner wrote that although Women’s Health Link is pro-life, that fact is not revealed in the ad, and nothing in Citilink’s policies “suggest a concern about what may lie behind an innocuous ad.” The higher court noted that the United Way is permitted to advertise, as are other organizations that urge vaccinations, health care, voting, and other issues.
“What is important is not what other advertisers are permitted to do but that Citilink’s ad censorship policy is limited to ad content,” Posner wrote. “The content of Health Link’s proposed ad lacks the faintest suggestion of a political, religious, or moral aim or agenda.”
The Alliance Defense Fund, filed the suit against the city.
“A government shouldn’t be censoring ads from a group like Women’s Health Link when it is running nearly identical ads from other groups, such as The United Way. The 7th Circuit’s decision rightly understands that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech for all people, regardless of their political, moral, or religious views,” said ADF Senior Counsel Theriot, who argued before the 7th Circuit earlier this month. “The city of Fort Wayne’s bus system has a responsibility, like all other government entities, to ensure equal access to community advertising forums that it creates.”
At least as of Wednesday, it was unclear It was unclear whether city attorneys would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.