A diary entry over at Blue Mass Group made an comparison that couldn’t help but catch my eye.
It references a Boston Globe article on a plan to expand the protest-free buffer zones around abortion clinics in Massachusetts:
The legislation would almost double the current 18-foot buffer zone and bar protesters from entering it. Currently, protesters may come within 6 feet of someone within the zone to provide counsel or share information, as long as the individual consents.
Supporters say the measure is a public safety initiative that would protect women from intimidation they may face from protesters and would make it easier to prosecute violators.
But opponents said the bill violates protesters’ First Amendment rights by limiting their ability to distribute materials that could encourage women seeking an abortion to change their minds.
At BMG Shillelagh Law observes:
I hate to break it to you Marie, but every Election Day, my right to free expression is being infringed upon by state law. There is a 150 foot buffer zone between political sign holders and the entrance to the polling station.
So Marie, if I have to stand half a football field away from the door while I hold my “Question Two, Bad for You” sign, or pass out emery boards and combs with my city councillor’s name on them, then you can keep your Grim Reapers and bloody fetus placards 35 feet away from women who are already going through enough.
You know, I can’t help but wonder about the legitimacy of the differing sizes of the buffer zones. Frankly, at election time, I’m rather annoyed by having to run the gauntlet of campaign workers (especially given the traffic congestion they create on my street, outside the neighborhood polling place), and I’d love to have a 6-foot bubble requirement added to the law.
And, while I can appreciate the need some anti-abortion folks feel to intervene in something they believe is murder… why do they need a smaller buffer than political activists? Why is abortion-oriented “speech” any more or less protected than political “speech”?