Post by Logan on Feb 23, 2016 7:29:55 GMT -6
Judge orders memos from nun, AG in abortion buffer-zones case
GREENLAND — A federal lawsuit that pits a nun against the attorney general — related to "buffer zones" at abortion providers' facilities — remains pending by order of a judge who has asked both sides to weigh in on two recent court decisions.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire by Catholic nun Mary Rose Reddy and six other anti-abortion activists who regularly hold signs and pray at facilities providing abortions, including Greenland's Joan Lovering Health Center. The activists are challenging state law that allows no-protest buffer zones at facilities providing abortions, which took effect in July 2014, but has not been enforced due to the pending lawsuit.
Attorney General Joseph Foster, as well as communities where abortion providers are located, have argued that Reddy and the other protesters "lack standing" to sue them, have failed to "state a plausible claim" against them and failed to sue the "necessary parties," which the communities claim are the abortion providers. A Feb. 17 order by federal Judge Joseph Laplante summarizes the protesters' counter argument by writing they, "of course, assert that they have been injured, claiming their speech has been chilled by the threat that the defendants would enforce the statute."
The judge's order this week says "both sides offer authority in support of their respective positions," but neither addressed two specific court rulings which the judge suggests are relevant to the buffer zone challenge. Laplante has instructed both sides to file memos addressing the two specific cases and to state how they affect the protesters' standing, or lack thereof, to challenge the buffer-zone law, before it has been enforced. In the alternative, they are instructed to file memos arguing why the two cases are not relevant.
Read more: www.seacoastonline.com/news/20160219/judge-orders-memos-from-nun-ag-in-abortion-buffer-zones-case
GREENLAND — A federal lawsuit that pits a nun against the attorney general — related to "buffer zones" at abortion providers' facilities — remains pending by order of a judge who has asked both sides to weigh in on two recent court decisions.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire by Catholic nun Mary Rose Reddy and six other anti-abortion activists who regularly hold signs and pray at facilities providing abortions, including Greenland's Joan Lovering Health Center. The activists are challenging state law that allows no-protest buffer zones at facilities providing abortions, which took effect in July 2014, but has not been enforced due to the pending lawsuit.
Attorney General Joseph Foster, as well as communities where abortion providers are located, have argued that Reddy and the other protesters "lack standing" to sue them, have failed to "state a plausible claim" against them and failed to sue the "necessary parties," which the communities claim are the abortion providers. A Feb. 17 order by federal Judge Joseph Laplante summarizes the protesters' counter argument by writing they, "of course, assert that they have been injured, claiming their speech has been chilled by the threat that the defendants would enforce the statute."
The judge's order this week says "both sides offer authority in support of their respective positions," but neither addressed two specific court rulings which the judge suggests are relevant to the buffer zone challenge. Laplante has instructed both sides to file memos addressing the two specific cases and to state how they affect the protesters' standing, or lack thereof, to challenge the buffer-zone law, before it has been enforced. In the alternative, they are instructed to file memos arguing why the two cases are not relevant.
Read more: www.seacoastonline.com/news/20160219/judge-orders-memos-from-nun-ag-in-abortion-buffer-zones-case