High Court Strikes Down Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones
CBNNews.com Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Supreme Court handed a victory to pro-lifers Thursday.
The justices unanimously struck down a 2007 Massachusetts law that created a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts.
The high court ruled a buffer zone 35 feet from the entrances of clinics violates the First Amendment rights of protesters.
Chief Justice John Roberts says authorities can deal with problems outside abortion clinics in less intrusive ways.
"Americans have the freedom to talk to whomever they please on public sidewalks," said Mark Rienzi, an allied attorney of Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization that filed the lawsuit in McCullen v. Coakley.
"That includes peaceful pro-lifers like Eleanor McCullen, who just wants to offer information and help to women who would like it," he continued. "The Supreme Court has affirmed a critical freedom that has been an essential part of American life since the nation's founding."
Attorneys at Americans United for Life filed amicus curiae briefs twice in the Supreme Court. They argued the law, which was enforceable through criminal sanctions, was unconstitutional.
"In a brazen affront to the First Amendment, Massachusetts government officials had sought to use the threat of arrest and criminal conviction to silence those offering women life-affirming alternatives to abortion," AUL president and CEO Charmaine Yoest charged.
"The Supreme Court rightly rejected this unlawful attempt to deny pro-life Americans their First Amendment rights," Yoest said.
