Women's Law Project

Mission: The Women's Law Project creates a more just and equitable society by advancing the rights and status of all women throughout their lives. To this end, we engage in high-impact litigation, advocacy, and education. Learn more about WLP.






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Federal Judge Rules Pittsburgh Clinic Buffer Zone Ordinance Constitutional

On February 22, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a long-awaited ruling denying clinic protester Mary Kathryn Brown’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the Pittsburgh Buffer Zone Ordinance. In a published 69-page opinion in Brown v. City of Pittsburgh, C.A. No. 06-0393 (W.D. Pa.), U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer upheld the constitutionality of the buffer zone ordinance and refused to order the Pittsburgh police to stop enforcing the ordinance against Mary Brown. In a separate opinion, Judge Fischer granted in part and denied in part the City’s motion to dismiss.

The District Court held that “the Ordinance is a facially constitutional regulation of the time, place, and manner of protected speech, according to the Supreme Court holding in Hill v. Colorado.” The Court also determined that “the terms of the Ordinance are not unconstitutionally vague on their face or as applied to Brown nor are they overbroad. . . . The enforcement of the Ordinance against Brown does not substantially burden her right to free exercise of her religion. In fact, she continues in her activities to this day. . . . Brown has not shown that she has or will suffer irreparable injury by the denial of relief because she [has] not proven any direct constitutional harm to her rights.”

The Pittsburgh Buffer Zone Ordinance, drafted in large part by Women’s Law Project attorneys, was adopted by the Pittsburgh City Council in December 2005. The Ordinance establishes the only legislatively adopted clinic buffer zone in Pennsylvania. Within 100 feet of the entrance to a medical facility, the Ordinance establishes an 8-foot personal safety zone. No one may “knowingly approach” within 8 feet of another person to leaflet that person, display a sign to him or her, or protest, educate, or counsel that person, unless the person consents. In addition, the Ordinance sets a fixed 15-foot buffer zone around entrances to health care facilities, which must be kept clear and within which protests or picketing may not occur. Since the Ordinance has been in effect, anti-abortion protests still occur as regularly as they did before, but physical confrontations and obstruction of the entrances to clinics have been reduced dramatically. As the Ordinance has passed its first constitutional test, other jurisdictions within Pennsylvania are likely to move forward with adopting similar measures.