Elderly Pro-Life Advocate Charged With Harassment
February 12, 2013
Huntsville,
Alabama – An elderly pro-life advocate in Huntsville was arrested last
month after spraying Holy Water on a public sidewalk outside an abortion
clinic. Joyce Fecteau, a 70-year-old mother of seven, faithfully prays
and counsels women from this sidewalk. The Center for Religious
Expression will be assisting Fecteau’s criminal defense.
Pro-life
sidewalk counselors are vital to the effort to protect vulnerable women
and the unborn. Many women feel helpless and trapped, and sidewalk
counselors are able to provide them with hope and information about
alternate choices. Once they are inside the clinic, any counseling
provided is paid for by the profits from abortion and must encourage
abortions to stay in business.
Over
many years, Joyce Fecteau has helped save hundreds of women and their
children from the pain of abortion as a sidewalk counselor. Recently,
abortion rights activists began protesting against the sidewalk
counselors and harassing them.
Though
the activists purported to be providing women “safe passage” into the
clinic, they harassed and bullied the sidewalk counselors and those
gathered to pray. They did not allow women any access to the sidewalk
counselors. And one of their practices was burning smudge sticks, used
in Native American and pagan rituals, which produce smoke that can be
heavy and hazardous.
The
pro-abortion activists came into Fecteau’ space, harassing her in an
effort to intimidate her. Fecteau had experienced breathing problems
from the smudge sticks’ smoke and she brought holy water to spray at the
smoke to try to dissipate it, so she would not be forced to leave. She
never sprayed any person, only the smoke itself, but a pro-abortion
activist filed a harassment complaint against Fecteau, claiming that she
had been sprayed with an “unknown liquid.” Based on this allegation,
Huntsville police officers found Fecteau while she was sidewalk
counseling, handcuffed her, and arrested her. Fecteau pled not guilty
and is awaiting trial, which is scheduled for February 21st.
“The
Center for Religious Expression is committed to clearing the path for
truth,” said Chief Counsel Nate Kellum. “Though some may seek to silence
them, Fecteau and others have the constitutional right to boldly share
their Christian beliefs on the sidewalks of Huntsville, and we are
committed to ensuring that their voices are heard.”
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