WASHINGTON — Pro-life advocates who engage in sidewalk counseling outside abortion clinics have their free-speech rights unconstitutionally restricted under a Colorado law, the U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 19.
The justices heard oral arguments for the third time in recent years concerning limitations on anti-abortion activities outside clinics where abortion are performed. The latest case involves a 1993 Colorado law targeting the actions of sidewalk counselors and anti-abortion protesters.
The law limits activity within 100 feet of any entrance to a “healthcare facility.” Within that radius, it prohibits anyone from approaching within eight feet of another person, unless that person consents, on a sidewalk or in “the public way” in order to persuade or protest. It bans not only counseling and verbal protest but the distribution of leaflets and the display of sign within eight feet of a person.
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