Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation, 202-717-7371

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Life Legal is pleased to report that Family Planning Specialists shuttered its Oakland abortion facility this week. Life Legal has represented a number of prolife advocates who peacefully protested the facility over the past decade, most notably Rev. Walter Hoye.

Photo: Rev. Walter Hoye and his wife Lori together with LLDF attorneys that represented Rev. Hoye

Rev. Hoye made national news when he was arrested for simply holding a sign on the sidewalk in front of the facility that read, "God loves you and your baby. Let us help."

Even though not a single patient ever filed a complaint and even though volunteers testified that Rev. Hoye never threatened them or obstructed access to the facility, the District Attorney found Hoye's mere presence to be "unlawful and intimidating."

In truth, the facility's "escorts" regularly bullied Rev. Hoye by surrounding him with large placards and blaring raucous music to drown out his message.

Rev. Hoye faced a two-year jail term, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 days. Although the judge ordered Hoye to stay away from the Oakland abortion facility, Hoye, determined to continue his fight for the lives of unborn children, refused to agree to the order. Life Legal appealed the conviction and won. We then secured the dismissal of all charges against Hoye.

Life Legal challenged the constitutionality of the city ordinance under which Rev. Hoye was charged. That case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Oakland discriminated against Hoye in its application of the ordinance, holding that the city's "enforcement policy is a constitutionally invalid, content-based regulation of speech."

Family Planning Specialists in Oakland is a member of the National Abortion Federation, which sued David Daleiden after he exposed the abortion industry's trade in the body parts of aborted babies. Life Legal is defending David Daleiden in two civil cases.

About Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org.