Abortion clinic buffer zone upheld by court of appeals
Exemption made for sidewalk counselors
A federal appeals court has upheld a Pittsburgh ordinance that created buffer zones between abortion protesters and clinic entrances, rejecting arguments that it was unconstitutional and violated free speech rights under the First Amendment.
But in affirming a lower court’s ruling, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also gave a win to the anti-abortion protesters who regularly show up outside Planned Parenthood’s Downtown clinic on Liberty Avenue and stand outside a yellow semicircle spray-painted on the ground.
The precedential opinion Friday determined that the city’s 14year-old ordinance does not cover so-called sidewalk counseling — efforts outside clinics that are meant to deter women
from getting abortions.
While the ordinance says that people cannot “knowingly congregate, patrol, picket or demonstrate” inside the zone, it does not prohibit other kinds of speech.
As long as the sidewalk counselors’ attempts to dissuade women are peaceful, quiet and conducted as oneon-one conversations, they are allowed to take place inside the 15-foot buffer zone around the clinic, the court said.
“The city is happy the court has once again upheld this sensible law protecting patients from harassment,” Timothy McNulty, spokesman for Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, said Saturday.
Nikki Bruni — the lead plaintiff among a group of five people who in 2014 challenged the ordinance on constitutional grounds and sued the city, the mayor and City Council — said Saturday that she welcomed the decision.
“I’m happy about it. I’m encouraged,” said Ms. Bruni, 54, of Verona. “I’m hoping that many more lives will be saved, that we’ll have a chance to reach more women. We’ll be able to stand closer to the door if we’re trying to offer information to people who are going there. We’ll just have better access to them.”
Ms. Bruni was joined in the case by plaintiffs Julie Cosentino, Cynthia Rinaldi, Kathleen Laslow and Patrick Malley.
Also lauding the decision was Kimberlee S. Evert, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, who said the court’s ruling paved the way for other cities to enact similar buffer zones.
“It is really great news for us,” Ms. Evert said.
“I think overall the decision is a huge victory actually for Planned Parenthood and for other health centers because the court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the buffer zone and basically did say that people can’t congregate, picket, patrol or demonstrate within the buffer zone,” she added.
As for allowing sidewalk counselors inside the zone, Ms. Evert said they would be limited to one or two at a time in a “peaceful, calm, nonobstructive manner. So as long as the protesters comply with this, we don’t anticipate it having any impact on our patients. They could just say, ‘No, thank you.’ As long as they follow what the law is, they will be fine, and if they don’t, then we will involve the authorities.”
Helen Cindrich, executive director of People Concerned for the Unborn Child, captured the mixed reaction to the court’s opinion.
“Boo,” Ms. Cindrich, 76, of North Versailles said Saturday. “This is the First Amendment, it’s the sidewalk and we should we able to proclaim our beliefs on the sidewalk.”
But she applauded the decision to allow the sidewalk counselors closer to the clinic doors.
“The good part of it is is that the sidewalk advocates ... they apparently will be allowed to go into that space, but those of us who are out there praying or holding a sign, we’re still on the other side.”
Ms. Bruni, who learned Friday of the court’s ruling, said she anticipated some confusion going forward as far as who can stand inside the buffer zone.
“You can’t if you have a sign, but you can if you’re reaching out to girls,” Ms. Bruni said.
Over the past year, Ms. Bruni said she had followed legal advice and walked through the buffer zone to make it easier to get from one spot to another, rather than go around it, while making sure not to speak about her positions or wear any anti-abortion signs.
“Now if we’re by ourselves and we’re just sidewalk advocating and we just have literature, we can stand inside of it, which will be nice,” Ms. Bruni said.
Ms. Laslow, one of the other plaintiffs, said in an email she had received from one of the lawyers on the case called the ruling a “technical win.”
“So we’re very grateful for the ruling,” said Ms. Laslow, 57, of Ross, who is a sidewalk counselor.
In the 38-page opinion drafted by Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, and joined by Judges Thomas M. Hardiman and Morton I. Greenberg, the court said that the ordinance “as properly interpreted, does not extend to sidewalk counseling — or any other calm and peaceful one-on-one conversations.”
“... The thrust of plaintiffs’ argument is that the ordinance is content based because the city interprets the word ‘demonstrating’ to apply to sidewalk counseling but not to peaceful one-on-one communication about other subjects, like sports teams, and, as a result, law enforcement must examine the content of any speech to determine if it is prohibited,” the court wrote.
“However, despite the assumptions of both parties nothing in the plain language of the ordinance supports a construction that prohibits peaceful one-onone conversations or conducted
at a normal conversational volume or distance. In short, the ordinance as written does not prohibit the sidewalk counseling in which plaintiffs seek to engage within the zone.”
Ms. Bruni said that in the past, attempts to engage in sidewalk counseling within the buffer zone resulted in Planned Parenthood complaining and police officers telling the counselors to move outside of the zone. Ms. Evert agreed with that characterization.
The five plaintiffs in the case had sought to overturn a ruling by District Judge Cathy Bissoon that had granted summary judgment to the city.
Ms. Evert of Planned Parenthood said that as far as she is concerned, she anticipates the appeals court’s ruling will be the final word in the lingering legal battle.
“My understanding,” she said, “is this is the end of it.”