Amended Complaint Filed in Rockford Free Speech Case
Racial slurs caught on video
Warning: Excessive profanity is not suitable for children.
Rockford Allows Racial Slurs
The above video shows angry pro-abortion demonstrator Keith Sterkeson uttering racial slurs and vulgar language toward a peaceful pro-lifer. It is the type of behavior allowed by the City of the Rockford and is the subject of a legal complaint filed by the Thomas More Society.
Even the abortion promoter who is harassing the sidewalk counselors admits that the women entering the facility is a “Mom.”
More coverage of this incident on LifeSiteNews.
(April 3, 2008) Attorneys for the Thomas More Society filed an amended complaint on behalf of Rockford, Ill. residents today, adding new claims for violations of First Amendment rights and conspiracy to violate First Amendment rights. The amended complaint added defendants Wayne Webster, who owns the local abortion facility, and Keith Sterkeson, who has repeatedly harrassed and assaulted the Rockford residents who offer pregnancy support to women at the local abortion facility. The amended complaint also seeks a declaration that Rockford 's nuisance noise ordinance — which the City has wielded against peaceful Rockford residents in the past — is unconstitutional. That ordinance makes it a crime punishable by fines and imprisonment for up to six months to “annoy” someone with an “unusual” or “unnecessary” noise.
Attorneys with the group filed a federal civil rights lawsuit when the city removed a pro-life sign that local residents had placed on a city bus bench. The sign displayed the message: “Abortion Kills Babies.” The lawsuit charges the city with violating the free speech and due process rights of its citizens. Local residents raised funds for the bench display in an attempt to educate their neighbors and dissuade women from seeking abortions.
The sign was placed on the bench on November 3, 2005 and was fine until March of 2006, when it was vandalized on a regular basis, covered with spray-painted obscenities and mutilated to remove the “Abortion Kills Babies” words. A local Rockford bus driver was also photographed getting out of her bus and defacing the sign.
Not only did the City refuse to allow the sign, claiming that it was “too political,” a city employee was seen cutting a pro-life picture off of the bench with a knife. “How far will public officials go to prevent the truth from being seen and heard?” said Tom Brejcha, Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Society. “It is wrong for public officials to discriminate against pro-life citizens who are exercising their freedom of speech. The United States Constitution protects us all against these kinds of irresponsible and undemocratic actions. Our rights are worth fighting for!” continued Mr. Brejcha.
The lawsuit asks the Court to declare the actions of Rockford to be unconstitutional as well as to issue an injunction stopping the City from preventing the display of the pro-life message.
TMS Documents
• Amended Complaint Against City of Rockford, April 3, 2008 (PDF)
• Related documents: Statement of plaintiff Kevin Rilott, Statement of Dr. Dwayne Summer, Press Statement of Denise Mackura, Incidents of Free Speech Violations, and Media Alert.
Media Coverage
• More coverage of the incident of Keith Sterkeson, April 14, 2008 LifeSiteNews.com
• Transcript of video and encounter with police at the abortion facility, Stephenson County Right to Life
• Rockford, Channel 11, April 3, 2008 WTVO video
• Residents suing Rockford over anti-abortion ad expand lawsuit, April 3, 2008 Rockford Register Star
• Other coverage on April 3, 2008:
Christian News Wire
Top Christian Content
Students for Life of Illinois
LifeNews.com• Bus stop bench focus of lawsuit against rockford, March 26, 2008 WREX-TV
• Residents: City violated First Amendment, March 25, 2008 Rockford Register Star
