Pastor Walter Hoye shares his thankfulness for the work of LLDF as we celebrate 25 years of fulfilling our mission through law and education.
Pastor Walter Hoye
In January of this year, my wife Lori and I were in Washington, D.C. meeting with the national leaders of the pro-life movement regarding the new “Declaration of Dependence” website where we all can come together as a movement on the life affirming principle of personhood, a strategy that has worked very well in helping me reach out to black leadership.
In February, my team in Chicago held a press conference regarding Tonya Reaves, a twenty-four year old Black American who died from an abortion procedure at the hand of Planned Parenthood’s late-term abortionist Mandy Gittler in Chicago, Illinois. In this press conference we announced the filing of two (2) pieces of legislation: (1) “The Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Bill.” and (2) “The Informed Consent and Ultrasound Requirement Bill” (http://bit.ly/1gtn8id) Both bills provide for a “Private Right of Action” which allows victims to sue the abortion provider if they violate the law.
Also in the month of February, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Kermit Gosnell Trial, I was a part of the National Black Pro-Life Coalition and Center for Urban Renewal and Education effort asking the United States Congress to install criminal and/or civil penalties for the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. This Act defines infants born alive as persons, and while it passed unanimously it was little more than a paper tiger as it did not penalize violators. As a follow up to this effort, Lori and I will travel back to Washington, D.C. to pray with Black leaders and meet with United States Senator Tim Scott.
Last week I was in Linthicum, Maryland providing leadership training for the new State Chapter leaders for the Frederick Douglass Foundation. Three years ago, I founded the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California which has hosted former United States Congressman Allen West, United States Senator Rand Paul and United States Senator Tim Scott and since become a model chapter for the nation.
This week, I received a call about a twenty-two year old Black American woman who has died due to an abortion procedure at the Preterm Abortion Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Lori and I will help organize a press conference in Ohio and add this information along with the information we have for Tonya Reaves to the package we have for United States Senator Tim Scott. In our meeting with the Senator we will ask for his help in holding abortion abusers accountable in a court of law.
All of this is in addition to what Lori and I do as founders of the Issues4Life Foundation and the California Civil Rights Foundation.
Honestly, because the toll of abortion in Black America is so devastating and the stakes are so high as it pertains to Black America’s role in ending abortion in America and the life of our people, that the number of calls Lori and I receive to help others in our community stand for LIFE is both constant and overwhelming.
I mention this only to make a single point…none of the work we do would be possible without the help we received from Life Legal Defense Foundation.
More to the point, without the help of LLDF, I would have recently been released from serving a four year jail sentence for standing on a public sidewalk, holding a sign that says “God Loves You And Your Baby. Let Us Help You!” in front of an abortion clinic in Oakland, California.
With the expert legal help of the LLDF I was not only able to appeal my conviction in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, but I was able to reach the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and win. So well represented was I by this organization that the Ninth Circuit court said: “We agree with Hoye that there are grave constitutional problems with the manner in which the City [of Oakland] has understood and enforced its Ordinance.” This victory alone speaks volumes of praise for the Life Legal Defense Foundation.
The Life Legal Defense Foundation so well managed my case that even now the lawyers for the United States Supreme Court case of McCullen v. Coakley, which is presently being decided, cited my case in their argument to support their point that the Massachusetts law was viewpoint discriminatory.
Over the years, and as a result of my relationship with LLDF, I have spoken with heads of many organizations and with many publicly elected officials from Hawaii and Alaska to Washington, D.C. regarding my case. At each event, I’m asked to recommend a legal firm that Pro-Lifers could trust to defend them should the need arise or which legal firm should they support with their hard earned dollars. In every case and without hesitation, I wholeheartedly recommend the Life Legal Defense Foundation.
Since the beginning of my relationship with the LLDF in 2008, I have come to know and fall in love with their team. In so many ways, they have all helped me to reach deeper into my community with the truth about the impact of abortion. As such, lives have been saved. For that, my wife and I simply cannot thank them enough. We trust the LLDF with our lives and consider ourselves to be in their debt. By supporting this organization, you are not only blessing our friends, you are also making it possible for their life saving work to continue.
As far as we are concerned, the Life Legal Defense Foundation is much more than just a legal arm of the Pro-Life movement, they represent the gold standard for legal counsel in America.