PENNSYLVANIA – On April 11, 2019, lawyers from the Women’s Law Project and the law firm Cozen O’Connor filed an action against three anti-abortion extremists who regularly protest outside a healthcare facility that provides abortion care and healthcare for the LGBTQ community in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The action alleges numerous claims including violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) and trespass.
The defendants’ behavior includes pepper-spraying a patient in the face, obstructing the entrance to the facility’s parking lot, and hitting a clinic escort in the head. Defendants are John Dunkle, Anthony J. Sulpizio, and Mark Michael Bogunovich.
“We will not permit extremist violence to go unchallenged, and we will not leave our reproductive healthcare providers unprotected,” said WLP attorney Susan J. Frietsche.
Staff at the Allentown Women’s Center (AWC) commented in a statement.
From AWC’s statement: “Whether it is on the sidewalk, outside our homes, or on the Internet, we will always choose to stand up and do what we can to protect our patients seeking abortion care, the LGBTQ community seeking compassionate, inclusive healthcare, and our staff and volunteers, and against hate that enables this kind of sustained harassment we endure every day.”
According to the National Abortion Federation (NAF), threats of violence or death almost doubled at clinics in 2017 and trespassing cases more than tripled from 2016.
In addition to Allentown Women’s Center v. John Dunkle, Anthony J. Sulpizio, Mark Michael Bogunovich and John Does 1 – 5, the Women’s Law Project is currently involved in three other active lawsuits in which we are striving to protect Pennsylvania abortion providers from harassment and intimidation.
In one current case, the Pro-Life Action League, an extremist group with a history of harming providers, is seeking to force the Pennsylvania Department of Health to provide them the names and license numbers of every doctor, nurse, executive director, board member, and owner of every abortion clinic in the state. The Women’s Law Project has intervened in that case to represent the interest of abortion providers.
The third and fourth lawsuits are buffer zones cases. Pennsylvania is currently defending two statutory buffer zones, in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Women’s Law Project is representing Planned Parenthood facilities in both cases, which are awaiting a decision by the 3d Circuit.
For more information, contact Tara Murtha at tmurtha@womenslawproject.org or 215.928.5766.
Established in 1974, Women’s Law Project is a public interest legal center devoted to defending and expanding the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. Learn more at www.womenslawproject.org.
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