ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Does the First Amendment give someone a right to walk beside you on the sidewalk and shout in your face? The U.S. Supreme Court, re-entering the battle over abortion, agreed Monday to answer that question.
The ruling likely will affect not just anti-abortion demonstrators, but also sidewalk panhandlers and protesters of all sorts.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld a judge's order that created a 36-foot ``buffer zone'' at the entrance of an embattled Florida abortion clinic to let patients and staff enter and exit the medical facility freely.
Since then, some judges and city officials have expanded on that concept and put into effect measures that ban all anti-abortion picketing in neighborhoods where abortion doctors live as well as on sidewalks near their clinics.
Last year, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York upheld a judge's order that bars anti-abortion activists from coming within 15 feet of patients, doctors or nurses who enter or leave a clinic in Buffalo. Two ``sidewalk counselors'' may approach a patient to urge her not to enter the clinic, but they may be fined $10,000 if they do not step away if the woman says she does not want to hear their message.
That 1992 order followed years of demonstrations, including ``blockades'' organized by Operation Rescue.
The First Amendment's free-speech clause protects ``peaceful persuasion ... not coercive or obstructionist conduct,'' wrote Judge Ralph Winters for the appeals court. ``In my view, there is no right to invade the personal space of individuals going about lawful business, to dog their footsteps or chase them down the street, to scream or gesticulate in their faces.''
But lawyers for the abortion protesters say the whole purpose of the First Amendment is to protect speech on a public sidewalk ``that is unpopular, unpleasant, disturbing or even despised.'' If the lower court opinion is upheld, they say, it will threaten ``union picket lines, gay rights activists and all other anti-establishment protesters who hassle the American people by challenging the status quo.''
Women's rights activists said they were surprised the court agreed to hear the appeal.
``I believe in the right to free speech, but I don't want someone harassing me when I go in for a medical procedure,'' said Deborah Ellis, executive director of the National Organization for Women's legal defense. ``If you are dogging someone down the sidewalk, that is not peaceful First Amendment activity. It is like stalking.''
But the lawyer for the protesters said the court in the past has upheld the right of strikers to shout at and harass laborers who cross picket lines. It also has protected civil rights protesters who loudly boycotted white-only businesses.
``We think this is a no-brainer. The court has said you can't restrain speech just because it has a negative, emotional impact on the listeners,'' said attorney Vincent P. McCarthy of New Milford, Conn.
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