The Frederick Douglass Foundation, for which I am the Virginia chapter president, strives to advance the pro-life cause through education and community outreach, especially among the black community. In 2014, 65% of abortions ended the lives of unborn black children, whereas only 26% were performed on white children.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider, has admitted that structural racism “continues to exist within [the] organization” and that it has caused “historical reproductive harm within communities of color.”
We want to help women reject the narrative that abortion is their only option and embolden them to choose life for their children. Naturally, our ability to speak freely on this topic is vital to our work.
Throughout the summer, the city of Washington, D.C., allowed political statements like “Black Lives Matter” to cover city streets and sidewalks. The message “Defund the Police” was created using permanent paint on the street without a permit, and the city stated they would not remove it.
Washington opened a speech forum, allowing all kinds of expression. But here’s the catch: You could only participate if they agreed with your views.
In August, along with Students for Life of America, we planned a pro-life rally and sidewalk-chalking event to be held in front of a Washington Planned Parenthood facility. SFLA also submitted a request to the city to paint the street with the slogan “Black Preborn Lives Matter.” They received no response.
When we arrived at Planned Parenthood that morning, six police cars awaited us, preventing us from painting our message on the street. Instead, we began chalking life-affirming messages on the sidewalk, as we do regularly in front of this facility. Almost immediately, police threatened us with arrest if we continued. Two students continued chalking messages, as the First Amendment allows, and were promptly arrested.
One must wonder — would they have done this if the neighborhood children decided to play hopscotch on the sidewalk?
This was a dramatic response to written expression that would have been washed away by the morning dew. The right to free speech is for everyone — not just those in power. The government cannot silence us just because it doesn’t like what we have to say.
With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, we filed a lawsuit against the district for taking away our right to express our views. Other groups were not punished after painting messages in the streets, and we should have received the same treatment they did.
Government censorship is a trend across the nation. College campuses are shutting down conservative and religious speech, city officials are preventing sidewalk counseling in front of abortion facilities, and now pro-life individuals can’t even chalk where permanent paint is allowed for others.
Fortunately, the city of Baltimore allowed SFLA to paint “Black Preborn Lives Matter” in the street after allowing other forms of expression on public property. When a city opens a speech forum, it cannot pick and choose which expression can be written on public property.
Everyone should be able to share their views peacefully and without fear of unjust punishment. If the government can censor speech it doesn’t agree with, it can censor anyone’s speech.
Frederick Douglass, the famous American abolitionist, said, “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” Government officials charged with protecting the First Amendment sometimes forget that America safeguards freedom not just for some but for all.
J.R. Gurley is the Virginia chapter president for the Frederick Douglass Foundation.
