Anti-abortion activists sue Spring Valley over protest permit

SPRING VALLEY - Anti-abortion activists are suing the village, claiming their constitutional rights have been violated because they're required to get approval before assembling in front of Planned Parenthood. In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in White Plains, Richard Bruno, a chimney sweep and the Rockland Right to Life Party leader, and the Rev. Francis Samoylo, a Catholic priest at St. Augustine's Church in New City, charged that their peaceful prayers outside the Pascack Plaza strip mall would lead to an arrest or a summons under village law. "While praying, plaintiffs do not picket or seek to interact with anyone, including Planned Parenthood staffers or visitors. They stand there and pray, while also displaying an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a Crucifix," stated the lawsuit, written by Christopher Ferrara, a lawyer with the New York Litigation Counsel for American Catholic Lawyers Association Inc.

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