Abortion clinic buffer zones crumble around the country
Two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that Massachusetts’ protective buffer zone around abortion clinics violates the free speech rights of protesters, four other buffer zones around the country have already disappeared or been challenged in court.
The City Council of Portland, Maine, repealed its 39-foot buffer zone around a women’s health clinic this week, and the cities of Burlington, Vermont, and Madison, Wisconsin, have stopped enforcing their buffer zones. In Burlington, people had been legally prohibited from protesting within 35 feet of the clinic, and Madison had a “floating” buffer zone that prohibited protesters from coming within eight feet of a patient entering or exiting an abortion clinic.
On Tuesday, the anti-abortion group Alliance Defending Freedom sued to challenge New Hampshire’s new buffer zone law, which allows individual clinics to set up their own buffer zones up to 25 feet around the premises.
~ Huffingon Post, July 9
[Photo (click to enlarge), via PressHerald.com, is of pro-life activists standing outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Portland, Maine, on July 11 after its buffer zone ordinance was repealed]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
With the decline of buffer zones and the rise in gun ownership and conceal and carry laws – this is going to end badly.
Ex, what city has/had a buffer zone large enough to stop a bullet? You honestly think clinic buffer zones protected against getting shot?
Not talking about distance – talking about the chances for rising tensions – the closer you put people together, the more it’s going to flare up. The supremes decision was correct – I’m just saying this seems like it’s going to end badly for somebody out there.
“the closer you put people together, the more it’s going to flare up”
Guess that’s been true for the preborn folks. . .
I’ll support buffer zones for abortion mills when proaborts support buffer zones for the preborn.
I don’t think Jim Pouillon of Owasso, MI, would have been helped by a buffer zone when he was gunned down while holding a poster of an abortion victim.
But yeah, we should all stay arm’s length away from each other unless permission granted to come closer. Thirty-five foot “buffer zones” were never required to keep people free from interference in entering an abortion center.
Interesting that the State provides uniformed officers to “protect” women entering abortion centers – do the taxpayers pay for this or the abortion provider? Monica Miller was correct (Abandoned) – the Government is not neutral, it sides with the abortionists. :-(
Oh please Ex,
When tempers flare a knife, baseball bat, fist, tire iron, or hands around a throat can be just as deadly.
Confrontations of any kind can be extremely dangerous, be they in front of an abortion mill or someone on the bus who is mad because you took their seat.
Okay Mary –
Then we’ll include concealed baseball bat and tire iron laws to be a possible factor as well.
At least it’s easy to see somebody walking in mad with a straight leg. :-)
I think the sign the protesting woman is holding is too harsh. I think loving these abortion bound women is better than being in their face with these types of signs. I’m a counselor at a pregnancy crisis center and empathy and concern is so much more loving than being confrontational. No one responds well to someone pointing a finger at them. Most of these women are sad, confused and afraid. We have to be Jesus to them.
The buffer zones were never about safety for anyone. They were a propaganda effort by the abortion industry to put impressions in the news and the public eye that pro-lifers are violent and dangerous — and so we need painted lines on the ground to keep the women safe.
The dangerous encounters don’t happen at the clinics, anyway. Pro-lifers are at greatest risk when we display posters and our message at college campuses and public education fairs.
At this point, angry pro-borts are not likely to be licensed concealed-carry gun owners. And so far, the pro-borts have not drawn any guns on us. A concerned citizen-carrier may be able stop a savage beat-down by drawing on the assailant, and thus save a life.
At this point, I have not heard any pro-lifers call for more concealed-carry training to protect our mission.
I’d be willing to compromise with the pro-choicers and allow the buffer zone as long as it applies only to AHA whackos.
Gee didnt a pro lifer or 2 just get killed with guns by a couple of left loonies?
Barb: I don’t think Jim Pouillon of Owasso, MI, would have been helped by a buffer zone when he was gunned down while holding a poster of an abortion victim.
Depends on how big the zone was, and if the gun operator respected it.
To be serious, we could also trot out the numerous stories of “pro-life” nutjobs…..
Oh i get it…its okay for a pro choice liberal to pop off a pro lifer when they become hot and bothered with our graphic signs BUT if youre a conservative you arent allowed.
I must disagree that graphic signs are harmful. Ive seen women look at them and ask questions about them. You educate them. Many turn around and say they aren’t going to have an abortion. Abortion fighting is serious business and we all fight it our own way. Id rather let a woman see my graphic sign than to have the procedure and have PAS and regrets the rest of her life. The harsh reality is abortion doesn’t look like a blood clot. Its the ugly disgusting mess you see on my sign!
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