Today a unanimous three-judge panel of U.S Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the 15-foot buffer zone originally enacted in Pittsburgh in 2005, and continually in effect since then.
The ordinance states, “No person or persons shall knowingly congregate, patrol, picket or demonstrate in a zone extending 15 feet from any entrance to the hospital and or health care facility.”
The court interpreted the ordinance to not prohibit the presence of calm and peaceful one-on-one conversation in the buffer zone by one or two people, and with this understanding determined that the ordinance does not impose a significant burden on speech.
“We’re gratified the court upheld the constitutionality of the Pittsburgh buffer zone,” says WLP Senior Staff Attorney Susan J. Frietsche. “We’re also pleased the court recognized the long history and dangerous threat of anti-abortion violence and harassment of doctors, staff, and patients in Pennsylvania.”
WLP filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of National Abortion Federation in the case.
The court acknowledged that Pittsburgh abortion providers had been firebombed, intentionally flooded, had windows shot out with firearms, and had hundreds of protesters shoving, blocking doors, and harassing patients. To address these incidents, the Bureau of Police had to deploy an overtime detail of “up to ten officers and a sergeant” to maintain order and security.
Death threats and threats of harm against abortion providers nearly doubled and trespassing tripled between 2016 and 2017, according to data compiled by National Abortion Federation, which has been tracking clinic violence since 1977.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center devoted to defending and expanding the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ people in Pennsylvania and beyond.
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