Federal court awards pro-lifers $1 over unconstitutional abortion clinic rule
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null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 13:26 pm (CNA).Pro-life activists in New York state were awarded $1 this month after a court found that a county abortion clinic rule violated their constitutional free speech rights. The Thomas More Society brought suit in federal district court in 2022 against New York's Westchester County over its rule forbidding "interference" with abortion access there. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found in favor of pro-life sidewalk counselors Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli, with District Judge Philip Halpern ruling on Aug. 12 that the county ordinance violated the activists' free speech and due process rights. The plaintiffs were only seeking "nominal damages" in the suit, the court noted, leading Halpern to order the $1 award. The county had already repealed the ordinance in question prior to the ruling.Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a pres...
null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 13:26 pm (CNA).
Pro-life activists in New York state were awarded $1 this month after a court found that a county abortion clinic rule violated their constitutional free speech rights.
The Thomas More Society brought suit in federal district court in 2022 against New York's Westchester County over its rule forbidding "interference" with abortion access there.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found in favor of pro-life sidewalk counselors Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli, with District Judge Philip Halpern ruling on Aug. 12 that the county ordinance violated the activists' free speech and due process rights.
The plaintiffs were only seeking "nominal damages" in the suit, the court noted, leading Halpern to order the $1 award. The county had already repealed the ordinance in question prior to the ruling.
Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a press release that the ruling sends a "powerful message to municipalities nationwide" that "vague laws targeting pro-life speech will not stand."
"Westchester County's pro-life sidewalk counselors seek only to offer compassionate, life-affirming alternatives on public sidewalks — as is their First Amendment right," he said.
"Westchester's arrogant overreach tried to silence their voices, but this decision helps reaffirm their constitutional freedom to share the pro-life message."
The law firm, however, noted that it would appeal an earlier court ruling that upheld parts of the law that forbid so-called "following-and-harassing" behavior.
Rules regarding conduct outside of abortion clinics have become legal flashpoints in the abortion debate around the U.S. and internationally in recent years.
The Supreme Court earlier this year refused to hear a case involving a "buffer zone" around abortion clinics in Carbondale, Illinois. That rule criminalizes approaching within eight feet of another person without his or her consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.
In 2023 a Washington state county judge ordered a pro-life group to pay nearly $1 million to Planned Parenthood for gathering and praying outside of one of its abortion clinics.
Earlier this month, a 28-year-old man was found guilty of assaulting two elderly pro-life activists in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Baltimore, though the perpetrator was sentenced to just one year of home detention.
Last year, meanwhile, a national "buffer zone" law went into effect across England and Wales barring protests outside abortion facilities. Officials stipulated that silently praying outside of abortion clinics is "not necessarily" a crime under the new rules.
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Young people walk the streets of Camagüey, Cuba. / Credit: Camagüey Youth MinistryACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).During the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, young people from around the world gathered to celebrate a mosaic of universal faith. In the midst of this gathering, an inevitable question arose for young Cubans: How can they live their faith in a country fraught with challenges?ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, spoke with Fernando Mario Díaz Hernández and Cynthia Izaguirre Roldán, both 19 and university students whose lives bear witness to a Catholic faith that steadfastly perseveres in everyday life despite the precarious conditions.They live in Camagüey, a province located in the heart of Cuba, between the Atlantic and the Caribbean. According to the website Catholic Hierarchy, the Archdiocese of Camagüey has 15 parishes and 26 priests for approximately 800,000 inhabitants. Nationally, Aid to the Church in Need estimates that there are only 37...
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Pope Leo XIV prays at the Marian shrine at Mentorella on Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaNational Catholic Register, Aug 19, 2025 / 18:43 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV made a private visit Tuesday to the Shrine of Our Lady of Mentorella, Mother of Graces, near Rome, underscoring his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.A favorite pilgrimage site of St. John Paul II and close to the picturesque mountain town of Capranica Prenestina, it is the fourth Marian shrine the Holy Father has visited since his election on May 8.The Vatican said in a short statement that after visiting and praying at the shrine, Leo XIV spent some time with members of the Polish Resurrectionist congregation who run the shrine before returning to Castel Gandolfo.Perched on the top of a small mountain overlooking a vast valley below with breathtaking views, the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Mentorella is said to have been founded in the fourth century by Constantine, who wanted to commemorate the site of St. E...
