Thu Dec 22, 2022 – 4:45 pm EST
(LifeSiteNews) — A Kentucky court ruled Wednesday that an ordinance requiring a 10-foot “buffer zone” in front of an abortion clinic was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment.
The ordinance, which prevented pro-lifers from sidewalk counseling in front of the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville, was challenged in court by multiple organizations, including Sisters of Life and Kentucky Right to Life.
“Sisters of Life, several individuals, and another pro-life organization wish to offer leaflets and compassionate, if sometimes unwelcome, speech to women entering abortion clinics in Louisville, Kentucky,” the Sixth Circuit Court ruling states. “But Louisville-Jefferson County limited their speaking and pamphleteering in buffer zones near the entrance of each clinic. Because these limits likely violate the First Amendment … we preliminarily enjoin them.”
The ordinance that sparked the lawsuit “first says that no one shall ‘knowingly obstruct, detain, hinder, impede, or block another person’s entry to or exit from a healthcare [sic] facility.’” According to the ruling, “no objects to this prohibition on conduct.”
Additionally, the ordinance “imposes a prophylactic 10-foot ‘buffer zone’ around the entrance of any ‘healthcare facility’ in the County and forbids any
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