A Chicago man says he’s fighting charges of disorderly conduct for simply standing on a public sidewalk and praying.<\/p>\n
Joseph Holland, a 25-year-old graduate student at Northwestern University, says he was standing still praying the rosary outside a Planned Parenthood facility in downtown Chicago July 3 when police arrested him for violating the city’s new “Bubble Zone” ordinance.<\/p>\n
The law, passed in October, states that a person cannot approach within 8 feet of another person without consent “for the purpose of passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education or counseling” within 50 feet from any health care facility.<\/p>\n
It also says a person cannot “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction” intentionally interfere with any person entering or leaving any health care facility.<\/p>\n
But Holland says he didn’t approach or interfere with anyone.<\/p>\n
“I was just standing by the building praying the rosary and one of the Planned Parenthood volunteers came up to me and started yelling at me that I needed to move 8 feet away, but the thing is I didn’t actually approach anyone; I was just standing by the building and the building doesn’t actually have a bubble,” Holland told FoxNews.com.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You can read more at the link, and see Joseph Holland in action, below.<\/p>\n