Wisconsin Supreme Court says an order against an anti-abortion protester violated First Amendment

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an order barring an anti-abortion protester from coming close to a Planned Parenthood nurse violated his First Amendment free speech rights and must be overturned.

The court, controlled 4-3 by liberals, ruled unanimously in ordering that the injunction be dismissed.

A Trempealeu County judge in 2020 barred Brian Aish from being near nurse Nancy Kindschy who sometimes worked in a small family planning clinic in the western Wisconsin city of Blair. Kindschy said Aish threatened her by saying bad things would happen to her or her family if she didn’t quit her job.

Aish had argued that his comments, made from a public sidewalk, were protected free speech under the First Amendment. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed.

Aish regularly protested between 2014 and 2019 at the clinic, primarily holding up signs quoting Bible verses and preaching his Christian and anti-abortion beliefs, according to the court ruling. But starting in 2019, Aish began directing his comments toward Kindschy, targeting her with messages that she argued were threatening.

In October 2019, Aish said that Kindschy had time to repent and “it won’t be long before bad things will happen to you and your family” and that “you could get killed by a drunk driver tonight,” according to the court.

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