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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:04:23 AM EDT
Jilted Ex-Boyfriend's Abortion Billboard Ignites Free Speech Debate ALAMOGORDO, N.M.–– A New Mexico man's decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights. The sign on Alamogordo's main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, "This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!" Fultz's ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official has recommended the billboard be removed. But Fultz's attorney argues the order violates his client's free speech rights. "As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech," Todd Holmes said. The woman's friends say she had a miscarriage, not an abortion, according to a report in the Albuquerque Journal. Holmes disputes that, saying his case is based on the accuracy of his client's statement. "My argument is: What Fultz said is the truth," Holmes said. The woman's lawyer said she had not discussed the pregnancy with her client. But for Ellen Jessen, whether her client had a miscarriage or an abortion is not the point. The central issue is her client's privacy and the fact that the billboard has caused severe emotional distress, Jessen said. "Her private life is not a matter of public interest," she told the Alamogordo Daily News. Jessen says her client's ex-boyfriend has crossed the line. "Nobody is stopping him from talking about father's rights. ... but a person can't invade someone's private life." For his part, Holmes said that during a domestic court hearing last week he pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year concerning the Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for demonstration signs and slogans that include anti-gay slurs. "Very unpopular offensive speech," he told the Alamogordo Daily News. "The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 1 decision, said that is protected speech." Holmes says he is going to fight the order to remove the billboard through a District Court appeal. |
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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:07:19 AM EDT
[#1]
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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:08:07 AM EDT
[#2]
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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:09:30 AM EDT
[#3]
I feel for guys like that. Even if his allegations about her are not true, there are plenty of guys out there for which it is true. To have your child murdered with you being legally helpless to do anything about it and for justice to be non-existent would just invoke, IMO, some of the most horrendous thoughts imaginable. I'm not sure I would be able to contain myself in such a situation, that's for sure. And yet, if say there was a prior child the woman kept, that same father would have to pay her no matter what; he'd have no real say in the matter. The current legal situation is just totally unsatisfactory and is not moral or just and really is just plain harmful. I hope this woman loses in court if it is true that she aborted his child.
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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:11:36 AM EDT
[#4]
ibtl
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Posted: 6/7/2011 3:14:52 AM EDT
[#5]
see links
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