Charisma Magazine

Pro-life pastor Walter B. Hoye faces up to two years in prison and $4,000 in fines at sentencing today for offering sidewalk counseling outside a California abortion clinic.

Feb. 19, 2009 -- A pro-life leader faces up to two years in prison and as much as $4,000 in fines for offering sidewalk counseling at an Oakland, Calif., abortion clinic.

Pastor Walter B. Hoye, founder of the Issues4Life Foundation, is to be sentenced today after being found guilty on Jan. 15 of "unlawful approach" under an Oakland city ordinance that bars picketers from coming within eight feet of women entering an abortion clinic.

Calling Hoye's conviction a violation of free speech rights, black pro-life leaders traveled from across the country to attend Hoye's sentencing. "Walter, being a pastor, the prophetic voice of God, is bringing attention to this issue," said Stephen Broden, an African-American pastor from Dallas who arrived in Oakland earlier this week. "We who are in the black pro-life movement recognize that if they silence Walter then the potentiality for us being silenced [also exists]."