ATLANTA - Opponents of a Georgia law that cracks down on where sex offenders can live are launching a new offensive to block a provision that could evict offenders who live within 1,000 feet of churches.

The Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights filed a motion Thursday that outlines the cases of nine anonymous elderly and disabled offenders who would be evicted from their nursing homes, trailers or relatives' houses if the law is enforced.

"By virtue of their advanced age and/or physical condition, these plaintiffs are not a danger to anyone," according to a draft of the motion obtained by The Associated Press. "Yet the law makes no exception for them."

In June, the center and other civil rights groups challenged another provision that would restrict offenders from living within 1,000 feet of Georgia's school bus stops.

The law, they said, would render vast residential areas off-limits to Georgia's roughly 11,000 registered sex offenders and could backfire by encouraging offenders to stop reporting their whereabouts to authorities.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled the law could not be enforced unless the school boards have officially designated the stops. Three local school boards have since done so, but no offenders have been evicted from their homes, the center said.

Although Cooper's order only affected the bus stop provision, county officials have been reluctant to enforce other provisions of the law prohibiting offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather - schools, churches, parks, gyms and swimming pools.

The center, however, said some authorities have recently begun to enforce the church provision, citing Houston County, where deputies have told 61 offenders living near churches they must move.

Ruby Anderson, whose 81-year-old husband was convicted of statutory rape more than a decade ago, tried to find her family another place to live after getting the notice from Houston County authorities in August, but rents were too steep for her fixed income.

Her husband, who suffers from advanced Alzheimer's disease and has trouble recognizing his relatives, poses no threat, she said. "I'm not saying that they shouldn't be concerned about these things," the 77-year-old said. "I'm not saying that at all. But we're not going to be a problem."

Sarah Geraghty, the center's attorney, said forcing ill patients from their homes because they live near a church is "utterly irrational."

"A civilized society does not turn elderly and disabled people out on the street or force them to jail for conduct that was punished long ago," she said.

Attorneys with the state have repeatedly argued that the law is crucial to protecting the state's most vulnerable population: children. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, the Republican sponsor of the law, has echoed that argument.

"The most important thing to remember is that the protection of our children should be our top priority," he said. "Georgia's new laws regarding sex offenders are among the toughest in the nation and reflect the desire of the people of Georgia to provide a safe, secure environment for our children."

The nine plaintiffs, whose names have been withheld by the center, include six who live in nursing homes and several who are terminally ill.

One, under the alias of John Doe I, lives in a southeast Georgia nursing home that's within 1,000 feet of two churches. The man has end-stage heart disease, requires 24-hour medical care and has a prognosis of six months or less to live, the draft said.

Another, John Doe II, suffers from a mental disease and rocks back and forth in his chair all day at a nursing home in south Georgia, it said.