Pro-life sidewalk counselors appeal to Supreme Court for stronger free speech protections

U.S. Supreme Court building. / Credit: Steven Frame/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 19, 2024 / 16:21 pm (CNA).

Pro-life sidewalk counselors — who work to deter women from getting abortions and connect them with life-affirming pregnancy care — are appealing to the United States Supreme Court for stronger free speech protections outside of abortion clinics.

The sidewalk counseling organization Coalition Life petitioned the Supreme Court this week to consider its lawsuit against the City of Carbondale, Illinois, which has a so-called “bubble zone” ordinance that prevents sidewalk counselors from approaching anyone or demonstrating within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.

According to the ordinance, it is illegal to knowingly get within eight feet of a person for the purpose of providing a flier, displaying a sign, or engaging in “oral protest, education, or counseling” unless given express consent by the person — if that person is within 100 feet of an abortion clinic, medical clinic, hospital, or health care facility. The ordinance considers a violation to be disorderly conduct. 

Although the Supreme Court ruled in June 2000 that “bubble zones” are not a violation of the First Amendment, Coalition Life is asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the subject. In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear a similar case, which challenged a “bubble zone” ordinance in Westchester County, New York.

“The ‘bubble zone’ ordinance has been nothing more than the continued and relentless persecution of our team on the sidewalk,” Brian Westbrook, the executive director of Coalition Life, said in a statement.

“This fight won’t be over until [the precedent] is overturned and thousands of municipalities across the nation, like Carbondale, understand you cannot trample on our rights,” Westbrook added.

The 2000 ruling in Hill v. Colorado allowed Colorado to enforce a “bubble zone” around abortion clinics. The state law similarly set a 100-foot perimeter around abortion clinics and health care facilities, in which people could not get within eight feet of another person to provide fliers or engage in counseling.

In the 2000 ruling, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the law does not “place any restriction on the content of any message that anyone may wish to communicate to anyone else” but that it does “make it more difficult to give unwanted advice.” Ultimately, he found that the law was “reasonable and narrowly tailored.” 

“Persons who are attempting to enter health care facilities for any purpose are often in particularly vulnerable physical and emotional conditions,” Stevens wrote. “The State of Colorado has responded to its substantial and legitimate interest in protecting these persons from unwanted encounters, confrontations, and even assaults by enacting an exceedingly modest restriction on the speakers’ ability to approach.”

Paul Clement, the lead attorney representing Coalition Life, wrote in the petition to the Supreme Court that Hill v. Colorado perpetuates a “denial of constitutional rights,” which is “more pressing now than ever.” 

“For nearly a quarter of a century, sidewalk counselors like those who work with Coalition Life have been forced to live with ‘an entirely separate, abridged edition of the First Amendment’ when it comes to the kind of peaceful, conversational speech outside an abortion facility in which they wish to engage,” Clement said.

Peter Breen, the executive vice president and head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, which is helping represent Coalition Life, said in a statement that “Hill v. Colorado was egregiously wrong on the day it was decided, and it remains a black mark in our law to this day.”

“‘Bubble zones,’ like the one in Carbondale, are an unconstitutional and overzealous attempt to show favor to abortion businesses, at the expense of the free speech rights of folks who seek to offer information, alternatives, and resources to pregnant women in need,” Breen added. “It’s time to end, once and for all, the political gamesmanship places like Carbondale play with our free speech rights.”

Three states have so-called “bubble zone” laws on the books: Colorado, Massachusetts, and Montana. However, numerous local governments throughout the country have adopted similar ordinances, preventing sidewalk counselors from approaching women who are considering an abortion.