Free Republic

BURLINGTON, VT – The cities of Burlington, Vermont, and Madison, Wisconsin have opted to suspend enforcement of their laws requiring pro-life sidewalk counselors to stay away from abortion facilities. Burlington City Attorney Eileen Blackwood said today the Supreme Court's ruling last week striking down a similar Massachusetts law convinced her that Burlington's ordinance – which requires counselors to stay 35 feet away from abortion facilities – violates the Constitution.

Pro-Life Advocate Arrested in Bubble Zone Abortion Case Sees Charges Lifted Chicago, IL -- The pro-life graduate student arrested in a case that drew national attention to the plight of pro-life advocates losing their free speech outside abortion centers, saw charges filed against him by the city of Chicago under its new bubble zone law dismissed. http://LifeNews.com/state5309.html

CHICAGO, Aug. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- This afternoon, in a wake of national attention to the case, the Thomas More Society secured a dismissal of all charges against the first arrestee under the city's "bubble zone" ordinance, which prevents certain types of picketing activity outside local abortion clinics. Joseph Holland, a Northwestern University graduate student, was arrested outside Planned Parenthood's Near North Side facility on July 3 after the facility's staff called the police and claimed he violated the ordinance by praying on the public sidewalk. "We are pleased that the City of Chicago has dismissed these false and baseless...

... Joseph Holland, a 25-year-old graduate student at Northwestern University, says he was standing still praying the rosary outside a Planned Parenthood facility in downtown Chicago July 3 when police arrested him for violating the city's new "Bubble Zone" ordinance. The law, passed in October, states that a person cannot approach within 8 feet of another person without consent "for the purpose of passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education or counseling" within 50 feet from any health care facility. It also says a person cannot "by force or threat of...

Pastor jailed for Oakland anti-abortion acts Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, March 20, 2009 A pastor at a Berkeley church was jailed Friday for 30 days after unsuccessfully arguing that an order requiring him to stay 100 yards away from an Oakland abortion clinic violates his right to free speech. Walter Hoye, 52, of Union City was the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic. In February, Judge Stuart Hing of Alameda County Superior Court sentenced Hoye to three years' probation, 30 days in jail...

Judge Reserves Judgment in Canadian Case on Abortion Protests Outside Abortion Facilities VANCOUVER, British Columbia, September 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Judgment has been reserved in the "Bubble Zone" case concerning protest within a proscribed geographic area near abortion clinics. The Canadian Religious Freedom Alliance (Alliance), represented by legal counsel, Julie Owens, presented arguments Sept. 13 and 14 at the B.C. Court of Appeal in defence of freedom of speech for those protesting within the "bubble zone" around abortion clinics.  This action arose from B.C. resident, Donald Spratt's, December 1998 conviction under the B.C. Access to Abortion Services Act, on charges...

Abortuary ‘Buffer Zone’ Violates Free Speech Law: Federal Judge By Terry Vanderheyden WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, April 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge in Florida has ruled that a 20-foot buffer zone imposed by a lower court against pro-life abortion protesters violates their free speech rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled April 11 that the buffer-zone ordinance, passed in October, is too restrictive. “Freedom of speech is rarely an issue when everyone agrees,” Middlebrooks stated in his written decision, as reported by the Associated Press. “Perhaps more than at any other place...