Wausau Library Censors Showing of Pro-Life Film

Attorneys from the pro-life Thomas More Society issued a letter today to Marathon County library officials demanding that the library rescind its decision to cancel a showing of a pro-life film.

The library is accused of censoring the Wausau “40 Days for Life” group, which wants to show the pro-life documentary, “Blood Money.”

The director of the library, Ralph Illick, had canceled the showing of the movie in one of the library’s “public meeting rooms,” because he determined that the film’s topic – abortion – would “interfere with normal use of our library.”

“Having to demand that a library not engage in censorship is outrageous,” Peter Breen, executive director and legal counsel for the Thomas More Society, told LifeNews.com. “The library’s own policy declares that meeting rooms are to be allocated without regard to the beliefs of those using the rooms, but here, the sincerely held religious beliefs of Wausau “40 Days for Life” that all life is sacred has barred this group from use of these purportedly ‘public’ rooms. We stand ready to take immediate legal action if the showing of the film is not allowed.”

In the letter written to Director Illick, Thomas More Society attorneys cited the library’s own “Bill of Rights,” which guarantees that, “VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.”

See a copy of the letter at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/74734352/Thomas-More-Society-letter-to-Marathon-County-Public-Library-Regarding-Censorship

Contact the library at: http://www.mcpl.us/about/contact/

LifeNews