Nearly a month after Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill to better protect patients and employees entering and leaving abortion clinics in Massachusetts, other states that have passed similar legislation say the Bay State’s movement is the most progressive step to date.
Lawmakers and clinic officials say the Buffer Zone Law, signed by Patrick on Nov. 13, offers a medium between allowed free speech for protesters and the freedom from harassment for the patients. The law mandates protesters remain 35 feet away from clinics, nearly doubling the previous boundary, and also eliminates a vague “bubble zone” that allowed protesters to approach patients as long as they remained six feet away from them.
“This law strikes a reasonable balance between the right to protest, which we understand, and the right to seek medical treatment without harassment,” said Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts spokesman Angus McQuilken. “For too many years, patients and staff had to deal with harassment in your face. Now we have a law that works, and the difference has been immediate and profound.”
The United States has experienced a long history of abortion-related violence, including the 1993 murder of an abortion physician in Florida and the 1997 bombing of an Atlanta abortion clinic. Violence also struck Massachusetts in 1994 when a man opened fire inside Brookline’s Planned Parenthood clinic, killing the receptionist and wounding three others.
Boston University Bioethics Society President and University Professors Program junior Maggie Buttlar said despite her own feelings on abortion, she supports the protection offered by the buffer zone.
“Personally, I am pro-life,” Buttlar said. “But I appreciate the difficulties and panic that comes with early, unexpected pregnancy. I realize that this is a very heated issue. However, it’s pure hypocrisy to bring violence and aggression into an issue where one’s argument centers around life.”
Buttlar said witnessing protesters verbally assault a young patient inspired her to support abortion patients.
“One morning, I was walking by the Planned Parenthood clinic on Commonwealth Avenue and I saw a girl leaving,” she said. “There were several protesters that were yelling things to her, and she was walking with her head down and a hand covering her face. I don’t think this tactic of humiliation and standing outside clinics is effective, nor is it a humane way to express one’s opinion.”
Facing similar objection, buffer-zone legislation has existed throughout the nation in different forms for years.
According to The Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado General Assembly granted anyone entering or exiting within 100 feet of an abortion clinic an eight-foot bubble in 1993. The Supreme Court upheld the law when it was challenged in 2000 for abridging the right to assemble.
“The First Amendment rights of pro-lifers died this morning in Washington, D.C.,” said Leila Jeanne Hill of Wheat Ridge, Colo. after the ruling, according to the Gazette.
Seven years later, Planned Parenthood says the ruling has protected its patients.
“The Bubble Law has been very successful,” said Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains spokeswoman Katie Groke-Ellis. “It’s definitely protected our clients and our staff.”
Patients’ protection laws are difficult to enforce because measuring the distances proves difficult, she said. One protester in Colorado Springs was a given a ticket, two years of probation and a restraining order for violating the bubble law, she said.
“The Massachusetts law is much more expansive,” said Groke-Ellis. “It’s a better law. The Colorado law was still a huge victory for us, though. We still get protesters, but knowing that there is something in place gives us a sense of security.”
She said the laws in place do not violate protesters’ rights, but only mitigate their potential for unlawful harassment.
“[Protesters] are still able to have free speech,” Ellis said. “They’re still out there protesting. It just protects the personal safety of others.”
Though New York specifically prohibits clinic blockades and harassment, its regulations are regional and enforced by local governments, unlike Massachusetts’s and Colorado’s statewide laws.
Pro-choice advocates in New York say the law needs more consistency, though.
“There have been different buffer zones negotiated outside clinics in certain areas depending on the circumstances,” said Upper Hudson, N.Y. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Blue Carreker, who added the group has received consistent backing from police. “We deal with issues on a geographical level and with our police and attorney general’s office.”
She said in place of statewide regulations, New York established a State Access law, which prohibits anyone from interfering with access to clinics, but says its omission of public sidewalks as a protected area makes it ineffective.
“We still have to deal with a level of harassment and intimidation on the public sidewalks,” Carreker said. “We would like to have a buffer zone like Massachusetts. That would be terrific.”
In Massachusetts, opponents maintain the Buffer Zone Law is an assault on free speech.
“Do the abortion clinics want to pay taxes on those sidewalks? Because now we’re making them their property,” said Rep. Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) in a November Daily Free Press article. “In the real world, is a buffer zone going to prevent a crazed man from going in anywhere and murdering someone?”
“We have watered down our ability to have any kind of meaningful protest,” said State Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-Attleboro).
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