The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a NY law that allegedly targeted a Catholic « sidewalk counselor, » upholding precedent allowing abortion clinic buffer zones.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to a New York law allowing abortion clinic buffer zones, essentially upholding 23-year federal precedent.
Just days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year – ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion and that the matter should be decided by the states – Westchester County, New York, passed a local law making it a misdemeanor to knowingly approach within eight feet of another person entering an abortion clinic for the purpose of protesting, counseling or handing any material to them.
The law said penalties can include a fine or up to six months in prison, while repeated violations can result in up to a year behind bars.
Debra Vitagliano, a Catholic « sidewalk counselor » who worked to present women with abortion alternatives outside Planned Parenthood clinics, sued Westchester County last November, arguing the law violated her First Amendment rights. Though the Second Circuit later ruled the Westchester County « bubble zone » law was a valid content-neutral, time, place, and manner restriction on speech, Vitagliano had advanced the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking to have abortion clinic buffer zone precedent overturned.
