Pro-Life Leader Vindicated for Walk on Navy Pier During Planned Parenthood Gala
Thomas More Society Gets Spurious Trespassing Case Against Scheidler Dismissed
(August 4, 2015 – Chicago, IL) The Thomas More Society obtained a victory for First Amendment rights yesterday morning when pro-life leader Eric Scheidler was found not guilty of criminal trespass charges stemming from a protest he led against a Planned Parenthood fundraiser at Navy Pier. Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, was arrested in April by Chicago police a short time after being been granted explicit permission to access the pier.
Peter Breen, Special Counsel for Thomas More Society, called it “a great win.” Breen defended Scheidler alongside Associate Counsel Corrina Konczal. “People have a right to go on Navy Pier,” Breen asserted. “It’s a public place – and you can’t be excluded because you are protesting an event that is happening there. This was a case of Navy Pier personnel reacting badly to our client because of the First Amendment protected activity he was engaged in, and not because of any actual criminal activity.”
Scheidler said that he is really excited to “get back to fighting Planned Parenthood on the front lines, especially in light of all the horrific revelations that have been coming out recently about their business selling baby parts.” Now he moves on, in his words, “to end abortion in America.”
