A Cumberland County judge is now deciding whether the state can force a longtime street preacher to stay 500 feet away from Portland’s Planned Parenthood clinic – a request critics say amounts to an extraordinary restriction on free speech and peaceful protest in a public space.
For six years, street minister John Andrade Jr. has stood outside the Congress Street clinic, preaching with a microphone as part of his pro-life outreach. His presence has drawn complaints from Planned Parenthood and its supporters, prompting the Maine Attorney General’s Office to take the unusual step of seeking a court-ordered buffer zone.
Prosecutors argued Thursday that Andrade’s often amplified preaching often disrupts clinic operations. They played police body-camera footage and called officers who reported hearing his voice from blocks away. The state’s attorneys claimed that while many pro-life advocates gather on the sidewalk, Andrade’s use of a microphone distinguishes him from others and justified the legal action.
But Andrade, 42, told the court his purpose is simple: sharing his religious message. He said any claim that he is “targeting” patients is false, and urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit entirely, arguing the state is attempting to police his beliefs rather than actual misconduct.
Initially, the Attorney General’s Office sought a 150-foot buffer, but after testimony about the volume of his preaching, they expanded their request to a sweeping 500-foot zone, a distance that would effectively eliminate his ability to gather near the clinic at all.
Four witnesses testified in Andrade’s defense, saying he is not disruptive and pointing out that normal downtown traffic noise is often louder than his preaching. Andrade questioned why the state is singling him out when other protests and loud activity near the clinic have never brought such aggressive action.
Justice Darcie McElwee did not issue a ruling but said she would decide soon. If she grants the request, Andrade would be barred from approaching within half a football field’s length of the clinic while the state’s broader civil case continues, a major escalation in the ongoing clash between pro-life sidewalk outreach and the political power of Maine’s top law-enforcement office.
The case has quickly become a flashpoint for free-speech advocates who warn that if the state can sideline one outspoken religious protester with a 500-foot exclusion zone, similar restrictions could follow for other demonstrations the government finds inconvenient or politically unpopular.
