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Abortion Constitutionality Free Speech

4th Circuit rules on compelled speech cases involving crisis pregnancy centers

Here is a link to a National Right to Life News story on the 4th Cicuit’s recent (July 3, 2013) decision in two 1st Amendment cases involving crisis pregnancy centers. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2013/07/4th-circuit-returns-dispute-over-attack-on-cpcs-to-u-s-district-court/ Here is a link to a Washington Post story. http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-03/local/40346031_1_appeals-court-greater-baltimore-center-judge-robert-king

Both cases involve local ordinances that require that pregnancy centers make certain disclosures. The 4th Circuit sent one of the cases (from Baltimore) back to a lower court for further factual development. In the other case (from Montgomery County), the Court held unconstitutional part of the ordinance (the portion requiring centers to post a recommendation from the county that women who may be pregnant see a doctor) and held constitutional another part of the ordinance (the portion requiring that centers post a notice mentioning that the centers do not have a medical professional on staff). Judge Niemeyer wrote a very strong dissent from the latter ruling. 

Mark Rienzi from Catholic U’s Law School has been handling this litigation for years. 

Richard M.

Richard Myers

Richard S. Myers, the Vice-President of UFL, is Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law, where he teaches Antitrust, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, and Religious Freedom. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College and earned his law degree at Notre Dame, where he won the law school's highest academic prize. He began his legal career by clerking for Judge John F. Kilkenny of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Myers also worked for Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C. He taught at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law before joining the Ave Maria faculty. He is a co-editor of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition: Contemporary Perspectives (Catholic University of American Press, 2004) and a co-editor of Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Scarecrow Press, 2007). He has also published extensively on constitutional law in law reviews and also testified before Congressional and state legislative hearings on life issues. Married to Mollie Murphy, who is also on the faculty at Ave Maria School of Law, they are the proud parents of six children - Michael, Patrick, Clare, Kathleen, Matthew, and Andrew. http://www.avemarialaw.edu/index.cfm?event=faculty.bio&pid=11705E7D4E0111010366