Ed Vitagliano
AFA Journal news editor
July 2002 – “When I first heard that I was being sued, fear came on me, because I didn’t have a lawyer. I didn’t know what I was going to do, or if I was going to jail,” says Carmen Vazquez, one of the co-founders of a pro-life sidewalk counseling ministry in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “And all I kept saying in my mind was, ‘What did I do that was so wrong?’”
All Vazquez did – along with fellow pro-lifers Marilyn Carroll, Bobby Riley and others – was to participate in a successful ministry that had seen hundreds of babies’ lives saved from the murderous tools of the abortion trade.
That brought upon their heads the full wrath of the federal government and the office of the Connecticut attorney general. The 1995 lawsuit – which Vazquez learned about as she and her family sat in the living room watching the evening news – contended that the simple act of handing out a gospel tract to a woman coming in for an abortion at the Summit Women’s Center in Bridgeport constituted blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic – a crime under a 1994 federal law.
Such attempts to suppress the right to freely preach the gospel is the reason the AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP) exists. In 1990, when AFA Chairman Don Wildmon started the legal arm of AFA, he said he could clearly see the need for a pro bono law center.
“I began to see that our culture was growing more and more hostile to Christianity and that such hostility would only grow more intense,” he said. “The need for a law center that protected the constitutional freedoms and rights of Christians – without charge – would become more necessary.”
Bruce Green, senior trial attorney for the CLP, said cases like the one in Bridgeport – which AFA won – demonstrate the need for lawyers to fight what is in essence a spiritual battle in courtrooms across America.
“We saw [Bridgeport] as a watershed case for this law center,” Green said. “We really understood that God had raised up our efforts and our work for such a time as this. We took it that way, we saw it as from the hand of God, and we have devoted ourselves to it ever since.”
Chief Counsel Steve Crampton said that while the five full-time attorneys at the CLP come from different places, with different stories and different personal struggles, all share the same passion: fighting to maintain the First Amendment rights of Christians.
“The opportunity we have at the CLP to litigate constitutional issues on a national scale is unparalleled, and we are driven to succeed in this fight because we see our task here – our calling, really – to keep the avenues for the gospel wide open,” he said. “In an increasingly hostile environment and in courtrooms that have a preconceived notion that Christians are the enemies of America, that’s not an easy task.”
Senior Trial Attorney Brian Fahling came on board in 1994, following five years as a prosecutor in the Seattle area. Although he and his family loved the northwest, Brian said he came to the CLP “because constitutional law is my passion. And every day when I wake up and I see my children, and look them in the face, I know that what I’m doing is important and will have lasting value beyond today and into tomorrow and the generations to come.”
However, Crampton said the attorneys at the CLP have more than just passion and commitment. “I’m proud to say that these guys are skilled and savvy attorneys. And believe me, when you’re facing government attorneys or big law firms – with virtually unlimited budgets and manpower – quality counts,” he said. “In circumstances like that, we are in the foxhole together. We can’t afford to have our flank protected by someone whose skills are inferior.”
For some at the CLP, the journey to the cultural battlefield mirrors the refining process of Old Testament figures. Litigation Counsel B.J. Brown, for example, didn’t even go to law school until circumstances drove him into the proverbial wilderness.
In 1992, pro-life activism undertaken in Wichita, Kansas, landed Brown in jail. Federal Judge Patrick Kelly ordered Brown to either promise to stay away from Kansas abortion clinics or remain in jail indefinitely. Brown responded that he “could not promise the federal bench the obedience he had already promised to his Lord Jesus Christ.” An appellate court later ruled that the actions of the federal judge were unconstitutional, but the more than two months in jail was a critical moment in Brown’s life.
“While in jail for 68 days, wading through some pretty deep water, I had much time to pray and reflect,” he said. “It became clear that the Lord was leading me to spend my entire life in the pro-family movement – to get my law degree and continue fighting this battle.”
When Michael DePrimo graduated from law school in 1989, he also yearned for a place in the battle over the First Amendment rights of Christians. However, circumstances barred his way, and six years later he was slogging through a career in real estate law.
When Green called him in 1995 to offer him a position as litigation counsel at the CLP, it was an open door about which he had only been able to dream. “The reality is that once you graduate from law school and start down a certain career path, you get further and further away from the area of practice you desire, and you get pigeonholed,” DePrimo said. “I am convinced it was the Lord’s hand that brought me here to AFA.”
Brown, who came to the CLP right out of law school, also sees the Lord’s hand in the CLP’s work – and counts it a blessing to be personally involved. “I just thank God every day that I can do this, and I thank God for the people who send in their five dollars and ten dollars to help make it happen,” he said. “Because I know from personal experience that there are people out there who otherwise couldn’t afford legal representation, who otherwise would be silenced, driven from the sidewalks and public places from fear of litigation.”
It is a sentiment shared by Vazquez, who was successfully defended by the CLP in the Bridgeport case. “I thank God for the American Family Association because I know that without them I would not be where I am today. They helped me a great deal to be able to reach the moms and to share the gospel out in the street,” she said. “To me the attorneys were like guardian angels that the Lord sent.” 
Significant CLP victories
Chambers v. Babbitt – In federal district court in Minnesota, CLP successfully defended the right of high school student Elliot Chambers to wear a shirt with the words “Straight Pride” on the front. The court ruled that the school had acted unconstitutionally in prohibiting Chambers from wearing the shirt.
Edwards v. City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho – In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, CLP protected the right of pro-lifers to use picket signs the city had forbidden.
David Lytle v. City of Norfolk, Virginia and Governor Gilmore – In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, CLP won a summary judgment striking a Virginia loitering statute both facially and as applied to the peaceful display of a pro-life banner over a highway overpass. The case has been appealed by defendants.
Ovadal v. City of Monroe, Wisconsin – In federal district court in Wisconsin, CLP successfully defended the right of pro-life Christians to distribute leaflets.
Vazquez v. Summit Women’s Center – In federal district court in Connecticut, CLP attorneys defended Carmen Vazquez, a sidewalk abortion counselor, against the U.S. Department of Justice. After two years and over 100 depositions, the case was tried and Vazquez won back her freedom. Her ministry, which has resulted in over 900 babies being born and some 330 salvations, continues. In May 2001, CLP again successfully protected Vazquez when local police attempted to limit her pro-life work.
DeParrie v. City of Portland, Oregon – In federal district court in Oregon, CLP won a temporary restraining order on behalf of a pro-life protester who had been banned from appearing in city parks for 30 days because his message expressed the evils of abortion. DeParrie was allowed to return to the parks immediately to carry signs, hand out pro-life literature and share his message.
Firecross Ministries v. City of Ponce, Puerto Rico – In federal district court in Puerto Rico, CLP filed a lawsuit against the city and won a preliminary injunction on behalf of a Christian ministry. The ministry rented a public arena to have a Christian music concert. Electric power was shut off during the concert because of the Christian content. First Amendment rights are fully in effect in Puerto Rico.
Ovadal v. Town of Madison, Wisconsin – In federal district court in Wisconsin, CLP challenged a disorderly conduct ordinance under which two protesters were arrested for displaying on a highway overpass a banner that read, “Homosexuality is a sin.” In making the arrests, the police were responding to a homosexual who complained that he was offended by the banner’s message. CLP filed a lawsuit and the city immediately dismissed the criminal charges and repealed the challenged ordinance.
