Legal protection of access to abortion

Governments sometimes take measures designed to afford legal protection of access to abortion. Such legislation often seeks to guard facilities which provide induced abortion against obstruction, vandalism, picketing, and other actions, or to protect patients and employees of such facilities from threats and harassment.

Another form such legislation sometimes takes is in the creation of a perimeter around a facility, known variously as a "buffer zone", "bubble zone", or "access zone". This area is intended to limit how close to these facilities demonstration by those who oppose abortion can approach. Protests and other displays are restricted to a certain distance from the building, which varies depending upon the law, or are prohibited altogether. Similar zones have also been created to protect the homes of abortion providers and clinic staff.

Bubble zone laws are divided into "fixed" and "floating" categories. Fixed bubble zone laws apply to the static area around the facility itself, and floating laws to objects in transit, such as people or cars.[1]

Laws in Australia

Currently, the state of Tasmania is the only state or territory in Australia to enforce buffer zones. In 2013, the Tasmanian Parliament passed the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act which enforces 'access zones' of a radius of 150 metres from premises at which abortions are provided.[2] Behaviour prohibited within access zones includes: besetting, harassing, intimidating, interfering with, threatening, hindering, obstructing or impeding a person; protests in relation to terminations that are able to be seen or heard by a person accessing a clinic; footpath interference; and intentionally recording a person accessing a clinic without their consent.[2]

In 2005, the Australian Democrats proposed a law to create buffer zones around clinics in the state of Victoria.[3] However, these attempts were unsuccessful as buffer zones were not included in Victoria's Public Health and Wellbeing Act.[4]

As of November 2015, legislation has been passed[5] to add 150 meter buffer zones around abortion clinics in Victoria.

Laws in Canada

One country in which "buffer zone" laws have been enacted is Canada. One of the country's provinces and territories has passed a law intended to protect medical facilities that provide induced abortion:

Access zone legislation has also been passed at the level of local government in Canada:

Laws in South Africa

The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act prohibits anyone from "preventing the lawful termination of a pregnancy" or "obstructing access to a facility for the termination of a pregnancy", imposing a penalty of up to ten years' imprisonment.[10]

Laws in the United States

At the federal level in the United States, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), makes it an offense to use intimidation or physical force  such as forming a blockade  in order to prevent a person from entering a facility which provides reproductive healthcare or a place of worship. The law also creates specific penalties for destroying, or causing damage to, either of these types of building.

California, New York, and Washington have each established their own version of FACE.[11] Other states have instituted several different kinds of measures designed to protect clinics, their employees, and patients:[12]

In the February 2003 case, Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that pro-life activists could not be prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law drafted to counter organized crime, or the Hobbs Act, a law intended to address economic damages caused by extortion.[13] The Court reaffirmed this holding on February 28, 2006 in a unanimous decision, although only 8 Justices participated in the ruling, because Samuel Alito had not yet been confirmed.

"Buffer zone" laws

In the United States, three U.S. states have passed "buffer zone" legislation, which can create either a "fixed" area around a medical facility or a "floating" area around patients and staff:[11][12]

Several local governments in the United State have, at some time, also passed similar municipal ordinances:

Debate

Supporters of such laws claim that these zones are necessary to ensure that women have access to abortion. They argue that a buffer zone helps to prevent blockading of a clinic's entrance, to protect the safety of patients and staff, and to ensure that clients do not feel intimidated, distressed, or harassed by the presence of pro-life activists.[1]

Some traditional free speech advocates such as the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association have cautiously sided in favour of narrowly defined "bubble zones" around abortion clinics on the basis that patients have a medical right to privacy when receiving confidential legal medical procedures that is compromised if protesters identify patients for the purpose of publicly shaming or intimidating them.[24][25]

The American Civil Liberties Union helped enact the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994, which guarantees pedestrian access to clinics, but does not restrict related speech activity. In Pro-Choice Network v. Schenck, the ACLU filed briefs defending the constitutionality of a court order that prohibited defendants from protesting within 15 feet of clinic driveways and entrances in western New York.[26] The Supreme Court upheld the ACLU's position.

Some pro-choice activists have also argued that anyone convicted of anti-abortion violence should be permanently banned from protesting outside abortion clinics.[27] Professor Jacob M. Appel of New York University has argued that "[m]uch as we do not permit convicted pedophiles to teach kindergarten or convicted hijackers to board airplanes, common sense dictates that individuals who have been imprisoned for plotting violence against abortion clinics should never again be permitted anywhere near such facilities.".[27]

Those who oppose the creation of such legislation contend that "bubble zones", by limiting the ability to protest peacefully, represent an infringement upon their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Center for Reproductive Rights. (n.d.). Picketing and Harassment. Retrieved December 14, 2006. Archived November 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013 (Tas) s 9(1) "."
  3. Heinrichs, Paul. (August 28, 2005). "Democrats push for clinic law." The Age. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  4. Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) "."
  5. Victoria passes legislation to limit protests outside abortion clinics. The Guardian ""
  6. Childbirth by Choice Trust. (June 2006). Abortion in Canada Today: The Situation Province-by-Province. Retrieved December 13, 2006.
  7. Mastromatteo, Mike. (July 2000). "Alberta judge adds to bubble-zone restrictions." The Interim. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  8. "Pro-life challenges Alberta Bubble Zone Law." LifeNews.com. Retrieved December 17, 2006.
  9. "Human Rights Program: Ontario". Department of Canadian Heritage. Archived from the original on 8 July 2006. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  10. Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (Act No. 92 of 1996), section 10(1).
  11. 1 2 3 4 National Abortion Federation. (2006). Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Retrieved December 13, 2006.
  12. 1 2 Guttmacher Institute. (December 1, 2006). Protecting Access to Clinics. State Policies in Brief. Retrieved December 15, 2006.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Hudson, David L. Jr. (2006). Abortion protests & buffer zones. First Amendment Center. Retrieved December 13, 2006.
  14. Wangsness, Lisa. (November 14, 2007). "New law expands abortion buffer zone" The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  15. Estes, Andrea. (May 17, 2007). "A move to expand buffers at clinics" The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  16. Gottlieb, Scott (December 2, 2000). ""Buffer zone" law for abortion clinics declared unconstitutional". BMJ 321 (7273): 1368. doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7273.1368/e.
  17. Pope, Justin. (August 13, 2001). "Massachusetts Abortion Buffer Zone Law Upheld." Associated Press. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  18. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-strikes-down-massachusetts-law-curbing-abortion-protesters-n141531
  19. Planned Parenthood. (March 6, 2006). Major U.S. Supreme Court Rulings on Reproductive Health and Rights (1965-2006). Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  20. National Abortion Federation. (January 23, 2006). Reproductive Choice in the States in 2005. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  21. Women's Law Project, Buffer Zone Ordinances
  22. "Judge says West Palm Beach abortion law violates free speech." (April 18, 2006). ABC Action News. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  23. Abortion clinic 'bubble' law met by protests, Chicago Tribune
  24. http://www.bccla.org/positions/freespeech/95bubble.html
  25. http://bccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2000_Winter_Newsletter_Democratic_Commitment.pdf
  26. https://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/aclus-role-stopping-clinic-violence
  27. 1 2 The Case for an Anti-Abortion Violence Registry
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