Office Depot’s Refusal to Print Pro-Life Flyer is Bad Business, But They Can Do It

Things are hopping in the culture wars.

It seems that a clerk at a Chicago Office Depot refused to print a pro life flyer quoting facts about the government monies received by Planned Parenthood. The reason? The flyer was deemed to be “persecuting pro abortion” people.

Evidently, Office Depot is standing behind this bit of nuttiness.

Does this, as the woman who was refused service claims, violate her First Amendment rights? I say no. I wrote a post about this for Catholic Vote. 

Here’s part of what I had to say:

… Now the lady who wanted it printed is all in a kerfuffle and talking lawsuit because, she says, her First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech was violated, along with her First Amendment right to Religious Liberty.

I know I’m going to get a lot of raspberries from my pro life fellows, but the lady is wrong. This was not a violation of her First Amendment rights.

It was rude, and it is certainly a reason for pro life people to take their business somewhere besides Office Depot. In fact, I’m sitting on a chair that I bought at Office Depot. Ditto for the desk in front of me. I have some color-coded files I bought from Office Depot just to my right on this same desk. But the truth of the matter is, Office Depot ain’t the only place I can buy these things; not by a long shot. I’ve been planning to buy bookshelves for my music room, and Office Depot has lost that sale. It’s good-bye Office Depot; Mathis Brothers, here I come.

But, I’m not about to get all worked up and claim that the jerks at the Chicago Office Depot in question violated anybody’s Constitutional rights. The Constitutional right to free speech means that the government cannot tell you what to say. It does not give anyone the right to force their speech on other people.

As a ‘for instance,’ I can, and do, delete filthy-mouthed comments from Public Catholic. Read the rest here.