David Benham, one of the Benham Brothers, was arrested Saturday while he was peacefully standing with pro-life counselors outside an abortion center in Charlotte, North Carolina for participating in a "non-essential" activity during the 'shelter-in-place' order.
Sen. Ted Cruz called the arrest "unconstitutional" on his twitter. Benham told on The Daily Wire that he is not going to let the government have unlimited power and use this crisis to their advantage.
The twin brothers are conservative Christians who were famously dropped from an HGTV home-flipping show after LGBT activists pressured the network because of their Christian perspective on biblical marriage Christianpost noted.
Benham posted a video on Twitter of his conversation with police officers arresting him for sidewalk counseling outside of the abortion clinic even though he kept every precaution during COVID-19.
"We are an essential federally recognized non-profit charity that helps at-risk mothers and babies," Benham explained to the officer. "We are within our rights to be here. We are practicing social distancing, we have cleaned our hands, we are offering help to these mothers."
He also wrote on his twitter, "My boys and I went to support the awesome sidewalk counselors who work with our non-profit, Cities for Life," "We offer life-affirming services for at-risk mothers. It's been an absolute privilege serving over 5,000 vulnerable mothers who felt abortion was their only choice!"
"We support taking every precaution during COVID-19. This is why we maintained our social distance and stayed under 10 in number. We were not belligerent... We simply stood our ground. MLK once said, 'A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right.'" he added.
An executive order issued by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on March 27 ordered all residents to stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning March 30. However, a number of exceptions to the stay-at-home order were listed, Life Site reported.
Referring to a report published on WBTV, which claimed that eight people were arrested for "mass gathering protest," Benham called it "fake news," Christian post noted.
"The sidewalk counselors stayed over 6' apart and there were less than five of them. Yet this officer selectively enforced the law, even though Cities4Life had less than 10 people," he wrote on Twitter.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, supported Benham. "My friend David Benham was unconstitutionally arrested today in NC for peacefully providing pregnancy counseling outside an abortion clinic," he wrote on Twitter. "If NC deems abortion 'essential,' then pregnancy care services are as well. This is WRONG; Governor Cooper should be ashamed."
In his posted video, Benham encouraged law enforcement to verify compliance with social distancing requirements and mass gathering guidelines within the abortion mill in the conversation with the police.
"If you're saying that we don't have the right to be here, then go in the abortion clinic and make the arrests there," Benham asked the officer in the video. The police officer said he did not have the authority to enter the abortion center.
"So, you don't have the authority to go in the abortion clinic, but you have the authority to bully us and our sidewalk counseling," Benham countered. Before being led to the police car, he said to the officer. "I appreciate that you're serving. I appreciate everything that you do for us. But this is wrong, and you know it," he added. "You cannot tell us to leave." "We are offering essential services to these mothers, and you know this."
