Abortion Protestors Flagged by Highway Agency

Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Abortion protestors for the 40 Days for Life campaign hold a prayer vigil Tuesday morning outside the Planned Parenthood health clinic at 3729 N Crossover Rd, on Arkansas Highway 265. They were told last week they had to cease holding and planting signs by the road by the Arkansas State Highway Department.

Participants in an anti-abortion vigil outside a Planned Parenthood clinic on Arkansas highway 256 near Joyce Boulevard in Fayetteville were told they were in violation of Arkansas code and could not protest with signs in the highway right of way last week, prompting a public law firm to claim it abridged their freedom of speech. The claim was cleared up by the state highway agency a week later.

Monday, Feb. 23 at noon, a state highway employee told participants in 40 Days for Life, a national pro-life movement, that holding and placing signs were not allowed on state highway right of ways — the area between the road and private property. Participants then asked for confirmation, and the employee returned two days later on Wednesday.

The employee claimed the participants were in violation of Arkansas Code 5-67-101, which states it is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to place any advertising sign on the highway right of way, and violators could be fined between $25-$100.

The participants ceased holding and placing the signs, on the legal counsel of the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based national non-profit law firm that represents the 40 Days for Life movement. The firm sent a letter to the Arkansas Highway Department claiming the statutes were limiting free speech. The participants resumed their vigil for four days without signs, but continued wearing t-shirts with pro-life statements on them.

An official response by the highway department wasn’t made until the following Monday because the director had been out of town until Friday to review the situation, said Danny Straessle, department spokesman.

Rita Looney, chief legal counsel for the Arkansas Ethics Commission, said in her response that only official highway signs are allowed to be placed on highway right of ways, and holding opinion-based signs are permissible as long as they are not placed and left in the ground, soliciting a business or asking for donations.

After having the air cleared about the law, the 40 Days for Life participants resumed holding signs outside Planned Parenthood, although some said they were concerned their freedom of speech had been violated.

“People may not agree with our religious beliefs, but it worries me that our right to free speech may have been violated,” said Sara Swearingen, a 40 Days for Life participant. “And I think people should be concerned about our free speech rights being abridged.”

It is a general rule of thumb that all sidewalks, unless on private property, are considered to be on the right of way, said Jesse Fulcher, Fayetteville senior planner.

However, as long as participants aren’t on private property and aren’t on the road they are generally safe to exercise free speech with signs, said Fayetteville Police Sgt. Tim Franklin.

“The saddest part for me was not being able to display our signs giving women different options to abortion,” said Mahriyanna Kersbergen, a 40 Days for Life participant.

Planned Parenthood, a reproductive health care provider, moved to 3729 N. Crossover St. in Fayetteville in 2011. Participants said they had hosted vigils that were uninterrupted twice before at this location.

“We run into this during the political season all the time,” Straessle said. “Campaigns will often complain because signs had been collected and they can’t put them on the right of way.”