Pro-Choice Group Threatened With Arrest For Pamphleteering Without a Permit

The University of Alabama doesn't get the whole First Amendment thing

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., July 1, 2013—University of Alabama police have ordered a pro-choice student group to cease distributing informational flyers on campus in response to another group's pro-life event, and threatened members with arrest for failing to comply with its orders. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has intervened at UA following this blatant and chilling abuse of student First Amendment rights. 

"Yet again, a public university bound by the First Amendment has regulated free speech far beyond what the Constitution allows," said Robert Shibley, FIRE's Senior Vice President. "The University of Alabama has no business telling a group of students—regardless of its views on abortion or any other issue—that it needs a permit just to hand out flyers on the campus' main outdoor public area."