Who would’ve thought that in America, you could be arrested for “annoying” speech? That is what happened to the latest pro-life activist arrested for protesting outside an abortion clinic.
“There’s hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of you. I want it for you but I can’t force you to take it and he won’t force you to take it,” Zack Knotts began preaching into a megaphone on a public sidewalk outside Northeast Ohio Women’s Clinic in Cuyahoga Falls on December 28.
“But you will have to stand before Holy God one day and answer for it. I love you enough to tell you the truth. Jesus Christ came to Earth to save sinners like you,” he continued right before he was accosted by police.
An Instagram video shared by Knott’s wife shows officers ordering him to go with them without initially sharing why - just that his “disorderly conduct” prompted people to complain that he was causing them an “inconvenience, annoyance or alarm.”
A post shared by Lindsay Davis-Knotts | Christian, Wife, Mom & Abolitionist (@lindsaydavisknotts)
“The charge was based on the claim that my preaching ‘annoyed’ passerby’s [sic], which is an entirely subjective basis for restricting free speech,” Knotts said in an interview with Live Action.
Ah yes. It’s much easier, of course, to arrest your critics than to take some time for self-reflection. But it’s pretty telling that the baby butchers were so insulted by Knott’s words of advice they called the cops rather than simply ignore him and go about their daily killings.
“This action was taken despite my clear constitutional right to free speech and religious expression,” he continued, calling it a violation of both his First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Related: House Probe: FBI, DOJ Told to Preserve Records of Prosecution of Peaceful Pro-Lifers
But the thought police got around the First Amendment by arresting Knotts under a local ordinance barring “unreasonable noise or loud sound which is likely to cause inconvenience or annoyance to persons of ordinary sensibilities.”
This includes anything broadcasted on a “radio, phonograph, television, tape player, loudspeaker or any other sound amplifying device or by any horn, drum, piano or other musical or percussion instrument.”
Knotts calls this ordinance “unconstitutional,” citing two U.S. Supreme Court decisions which struck down “vague” sound amplification orders and speech codes in both Cincinnati and New York.
But under the same progressive mindset that has targeted pro-life demonstrators across the country, our Constitution doesn’t apply!
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