PHILADELPHIA – Liberty Counsel will present oral argument today to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Reilly v. City of Harrisburg regarding the city’s ordinance that was enforced to prohibit pro-life volunteers from one-on-one counseling near a Planned Parenthood abortion facility. In 2012, the Harrisburg City Council passed an ordinance to curtail any interference with abortion facilities called “Interference with Access to Health Care Facilities.” Liberty Counsel’s reply brief to the Third Circuit states that the ordinance makes it illegal to enter the buffer zone and have a one-on-one conversation about abortion with a person entering the abortion clinic. Liberty Counsel represents Colleen Reilly and Becky Biter, who engage in peaceful sidewalk counseling to encourage women to protect the life of their unborn children. The City of Harrisburg enforced the ordinance silencing Reilly and Biter on more than 70 feet of public sidewalk in front of the Harrisburg Planned Parenthood preventing them from counseling, prayer, and distributing life-affirming literature. This will be the third time the case has reached the Court of Appeals. Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver said, “The City of Harrisburg infringed on pro-life speech and violated the First Amendment when enforcing the ordinance to prohibit pro-life speech about abortion”
