The entrance to the U.S. District courtroom in Medford.
Roman Battaglia / JPR
The city of Grants Pass won a lawsuit on Thursday from anti-abortion street preachers who claimed police had harassed them for years.
The jury delivered a decision in less than an hour against the group Abolish Abortion Oregon. The verdict resolves a years-long lawsuit over whether or not Grants Pass Police targeted the group for their beliefs.
The preachers use bullhorns at city events and outside a local Planned Parenthood clinic in Grants Pass, disrupting residents and businesses.
During closing arguments at the U.S. District Court in Medford, the city’s lawyer, Robert Franz, said that the plaintiffs not only knew they were being disruptive to nearby businesses, they wanted the attention. He said police were targeting them repeatedly because neighbors were complaining repeatedly about the noise.
“This case isn’t about one person or two people or three people or four people,” Franz said about the number of complaints over the protester’s noise levels.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Ray Hacke, argued that people only complain about things they don’t like. And because abortion is such a heated topic, it’s more likely to cause reactions.
Hacke said the preachers intend to still protest in Grants Pass, but they’ll have no choice but to lower their volume because of the verdict.
He said there should be different standards for what constitutes unreasonable noise, such as specific decibel levels.
Hacke said he hopes to appeal this ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He’d like to challenge the constitutionality of the state’s disorderly conduct law.
