Pro-Life Side-Walk Counsellors Condemned by Court
On October 25th, the state court of Graz, Styria, upheld a judgement of the first instance condemning pro-life side-walk counsellors to payments between 350 and 6200 Euro.
The pro-life activists prayed frequently in front of a Graz abortion clinic. The activists had peacefully prayed and offered alternatives to pregnant women upon entering the clinic by holding a sign and offering plastic embryo models. The legal basis of this judgement is a new Austrian law banning stalking. While the law was designed to answer private stalking, it was now used in a professional context with regard to the abortionist feeling stalked by side-walk counsellors standing in front of his clinic. The judge says that such activity "has nothing to do with freedom of expression, as the life of the abortionist had been massively affected" by the side-walk counsellors. Read also (in German): http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/graz/graz/2862229/stalking-berufungsprozess-abtreibungsgegnern.story Press release of one of the pro abortion lobby (in German, mind the biased language): http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20111025_OTS0261/schwangerschaftsabbruch-stalking-urteil-im-grazer-kampfbeter-prozess-bestaetigtIn English: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/sidewalk-counseling-effectively-criminalized-in-austria-after-pro-life-appe