ElvertBarnes via Flickr
A judge received a request from an anti-abortion team asking to end a law regarding buffer zones around abortion clinics. The group claims the protest-free zones violate their freedom of speech. The anti-abortion group said that the zones around Planned Parenthood clinics in Springfield, Boston and Worcester are restricting them from expressing their anti-abortion messages and the help they offer to expectant moms. They said that the issue is a serious situation.
According to Michael J. DePrimo, a Connecticut-based lawyer, “There needs to be a means of true communication.’’ DePrimo represents some of the activists. But according to the assistant state attorney general Kenneth W. Salinger, the general basis of the lawsuit is that most people never listen to the message of the protesting group. “They can, and do, share their messages outside the buffer zones,’’ he said.
Judge Joseph L. Tauro of the US District Court asked the legal representatives to present additional documents and after that he will take the issue to counsel. The law, which was written in 2007, created a 35 feet protest-free zone from the entrances of abortion clinics to the anti-abortion protesters. It further strengthened the year 2000 law requiring protesters to stay not less than 6 feet clear from the patients once the patients reached the 18-foot clinic entrance boundary.
The 2007 Massachusetts Law was already approved by the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit while the US Supreme Court declined the request to hear one more appeal. Salinger believes that “A lot of people just have no interest in the message people are offering. They don’t need to pay attention to [the protesters’] message if they don’t want to.’’