The State of Maine is suing preacher John Andrade Jr., 42, of Brunswick, accusing him of violating the Maine Civil Rights Act and “interfering” with health services by preaching and playing worship music outside Planned Parenthood’s clinic at 443 Congress Street in Portland.
“In my understanding, it seems that “noise” is not Planned Parenthood’s issue with me. Instead, they are opposed to the message of love and salvation through Jesus, along with our message that killing children in the womb is a great evil, and that the lives of these human children in the womb matter,” he told The Maine Wire.
“No other loud noise near Monument Square is being opposed, only ours. And it appears that they are able to perform abortions just fine even in a loud environment,” he added.
Andrade told The Maine Wire that he typically preaches outside Planned Parenthood one to two times per week and uses microphones or speakers to amplify his voice or the Christian worship music he usually plays.
The lawsuit, dated August 21, accuses Andrade of violating the Maine Civil Rights Act on multiple occasions, which prohibits anyone from making a noise that can be heard inside a healthcare building intended to “interfere with the safe and effective delivery” of healthcare services.
It requests temporary immediate injunctive relief against Andrade, preventing him from coming within 150 feet of any Planned Parenthood facilities, making noise that can be heard there, or obstructing their operations.
Violations of the temporary injunction would carry a possible fine of up to $2,000 and 364 days in jail, and would remain in effect until the final adjudication of the case, which could make the injunction permanent and impose significant civil fines.
Andrade denies that his preaching and music was intended to interfere with health care services, and the lawsuit does not make it clear how Planned Parenthood staff were unable to render “healthcare” or perform abortions, beyond the claim that his preaching disrupted “counseling.”
For years, beginning in 2021, Andrade has preached outside the abortion clinic. Police have been called numerous times to issue him formal warnings, telling him to quiet his preaching or music so that it cannot be heard inside the building.
Despite this, he was able to continue preaching for years without facing legal consequences for the volume.
On one occasion in 2021, Andrade was served with a criminal trespass notice based on allegations that he blocked the entrance to the abortion clinic.
He told The Maine Wire that he never blocked the entrance and that the building’s security footage vindicates him of that. Intentionally blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic or any other healthcare establishment is a federal crime, and Andrade was never charged.
“It’s certainly not true that I blocked the entrance, and they wouldn’t have any evidence supporting that,” he said.
Andrade believes that he was finally served with a legal summons based on an August 12 incident in which he told an officer who was warning him to be quiet that he did not believe the noise complaint to be valid in light of a recent left-wing protest that also took place outside the building.
The preacher told The Maine Wire that, recently, a group of what appeared to be hundreds of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters marched past the Planned Parenthood building, chanting loudly, shouting through megaphones, and even banging on drums.
Police were not called to inform those protesters to be quiet, though it seems impossible that they could not be heard inside the Planned Parenthood.
Video of the event seems to confirm Andrade’s claims about the protest.
The lack of response to that protest has convinced Andrade that, despite what the lawsuit says, it is his anti-abortion message rather than his volume level that has caused the state to sue him.
Andrade said that there is a chance that the lawsuit could be settled out of court, but that he does not believe it will be. He has sought legal counsel.
Each violation of the Maine Civil Rights Act carries a maximum $5,000 civil fine, and the lawsuit appears to accuse him of 12 separate violations, which would make him subject to a potentially devastating $60,000 in fines.
Based on the text of the lawsuit reviewed by The Maine Wire, it appears that the state will need to prove not only that Andrade actually did “interfere” with health care operations, but also that his intention in preaching was to do so.
“There’s many days when I don’t say a word about abortion, we’re just playing music and not preaching at all. Sometimes preaching just general concepts and things from the Bible and, sometimes we’ll be a little bit more pointed with our content about abortion, but there’s never an intent that we’re trying to disrupt health care. So I feel like it’ll be a stretch for them to try to prove that,” Andrade told The Maine Wire.
