Senator Ted Cruz slammed North Carolina police this week for arresting pro-life Christians as they were praying Saturday outside a Charlotte abortion facility.
Increasingly, pro-life advocates are being arrested for doing peaceful sidewalk counseling near abortion facilities across the country. Their life-saving activities are being deemed non-essential under coronavirus health orders; however, in many states, abortion facilities are being allowed to continue to abort unborn babies in elective abortions.
Cruz, a Texas Republican and Harvard Law School graduate, shared a video of pro-lifer David Benham being arrested Saturday outside an abortion facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. His was one of eight arrests at the abortion facility that day, according to local police.
On Twitter, Cruz slammed the arrest as “unconstitutional” and an abuse of power.
“This is an unconstitutional arrest,” Cruz responded. “@BenhamBrothers [are] exercising core First Amendment rights. PEACEFULLY. In a way fully consistent w/ public safety. Because elected Dems are pro-abortion, they are abusing their power—in a one-sided way—to silence pregnancy counselors.”
He cited the law 42 USC 1983, which states: “Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State…subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress….”
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Earlier, John Snyder, a North Carolina attorney and legal analyst, told Spectrum News that he also believes the arrests were unconstitutional.
2/x WATCH: This is an unconstitutional arrest. @BenhamBrothers exercising core First Amendment rights. PEACEFULLY. In a way fully consistent w/ public safety. Because elected Dems are pro-abortion, they are abusing their power—in a one-sided way—to silence pregnancy counselors. https://t.co/at4UxQrXBU
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 4, 2020
“Constitutionally, they have a right to be out there, expressing their views and assisting in the way they believe they are. They have that First Amendment protection,” Snyder said.
As Cruz noted, Benham was peacefully offering pregnancy counseling outside the abortion facility and taking extra health precautions because of the health crisis. Benham runs a pro-life charity called Cities for Life that has helped more than 5,000 mothers choose life for their unborn babies.
Cruz criticized pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper for allowing abortion facilities to keep killing unborn babies in elective abortions.
“If NC deems abortion ‘essential,’ then pregnancy care services are as well. This is WRONG; Governor Cooper should be ashamed,” he wrote. “… Because elected Dems are pro-abortion, they are abusing their power—in a one-sided way—to silence pregnancy counselors.”
Benham said they took precautions to keep themselves and others healthy, including staying at least 6-feet apart and limiting their group to less than 10 people.
“We were not belligerent… We simply stood our ground. MLK once said, ‘A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right,’” Benham said.
Pro-life sidewalk counselors also were arrested in San Francisco, California and Greensboro, North Carolina within the past two weeks for allegedly violating stay-at-home orders.
Most states now have stay-at-home orders as well as temporary restrictions on non-essential medical procedures to conserve medical supplies and stop further spread of the coronavirus. However, pro-abortion Democrat leaders in several states are showing favoritism to the abortion industry, allowing abortion facilities to remain open to abort unborn babies in elective abortions.
Pro-life sidewalk counselors have said they will continue to stand outside abortion facilities to pray and offer support as long as unborn babies are being aborted.
