A federal judge issued an order Friday to keep pro-life protesters away from a “buffer zone” outside Kentucky’s only abortion clinic.
U.S. District Judge David J. Hale issued a temporary restraining order sought by federal prosecutors in a pre-emptive move ahead of vigils by Operation Save America.
The order is aimed at keeping supporters of the Texas-based Christian group away from EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville.
Operation Save America had planned a series of peaceful protests outside the clinic this weekend.
The buffer zone is directly outside the surgical center’s entrance, between clinic property and the curbside patient drop-off zone, Hale’s ruling said. The boundaries are about 15 feet from north to south and about 7.5 feet from east to west, it said.
Rusty Thomas, national director of Operation Save America, responded to the order, saying, “We’re going to do what we always do.”
“We’re going to exercise our ministry on the sidewalk, and let the chips fall where they may.”
He added that the government’s request sought to “trample” on free-speech rights, and said his lawyers would make his case at a court hearing Monday.
“I’ve got news for the federal government, they are not God,” said Thomas. “They don’t have the authority to choose who lives and who dies.”
“We believe the federal government’s case is very, very thin,” Thomas said. “And if the court allows the truth to be made known, then truth will prevail.”
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week.
