News Release
For Immediate Release: 4.01.26
Contact: Peyton Drew, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Detroit Local Denied Opportunity to Share Resources or Life Affirming Message Outside Abortion Center
City ordinance criminalizes pro-life speech within 100 feet of an abortion center
Detroit, MI –First Liberty Institute filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Detroit on behalf of Matthew Lipscomb, who is denied the opportunity to share life-affirming messages with women visiting the Scotsdale Abortion Center. The denial follows a new ordinance that criminalizes individuals who stand within 15 feet of the entrance or approach a person to converse or hand out resources within 100 feet of the entrance.
You can read the complaint here.
“Silencing someone’s speech just because it’s bad for the abortion business is wrong and violates First Amendment freedoms,” stated First Liberty’s Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “The city is criminalizing compassion and clearly discriminating against individuals with an alternative message by refusing to allow reasonable conversation and resources. Not only is it discriminatory treatment toward Mr. Lipscomb, but it prevents women from receiving helpful resources and relevant information in a challenging time.”
Lipscomb is a pro-life advocate in Detroit who aims to share with women visiting Scotsdale Abortion Center that there are alternative options to abortion, as well as additional means of support and resources readily available to them. Since the City passed a new ordinance in October 2024, Lipscomb has been stymied from reaching his intended audience with his message or resources. The ordinance severely curbs Lipscomb’s speech in favor of the pro-abortion position of the abortion center.
The City’s ordinance makes it a crime for any person to: (1) “knowingly congregate, patrol, picket, or demonstrate within a 15-foot radius of any entrance to the healthcare facility;” and (2) “within a 100-foot radius of any entrance door to a healthcare facility . . . knowingly approach within eight feet of another person” to pass out leaflets, display signs, or “engage in oral protest, education, or counseling with such other person in the public right-of-way unless such other person consents.”
According to the complaint, “This fear of sanction and possible arrest severely limits Lipscomb’s constitutionally protected expression on public sidewalks and ways near Scotsdale abortion clinic” and “[t]he impact of chilling and deterring Lipscomb from exercising his constitutional rights on public sidewalks and ways constitutes irreparable harm to him… Both ordinances, buffer zone and bubble zone, serve to restrict Lipscomb’s speech, individually and in conjunction with each other. The combined and complimentary impact of the two ordinances effectively censors Lipscomb from sharing his desired religious, anti-abortion message to his desired audience outside of Scotsdale abortion clinic…”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Peyton Drew at media@firstliberty.org.
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