Defend Life, a small, Baltimore-based pro-life group, is celebrating a major legal victory nearly four years after its members were illegally arrested, strip-searched and jailed by the Maryland State Police for peacefully protesting abortion at an intersection in Harford County.

In August 2008, 18 members of Defend Life displayed graphic posters of aborted fetuses along Route 24 as part of its annual “Face the Truth Tour.” In response to irate calls from passing motorists, state troopers soon arrived and demanded to see the group’s permit.