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WASHINGTON (AP) — Abortion rights advocates are criticizing today's ruling from the Supreme Court, saying it will put at risk the safety of women seeking abortions.
The court struck down a 35-foot zone in which protests are prohibited outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts, finding that it violates the First Amendment rights of protesters.
Cecile Richards, who heads Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says the decision "shows a troubling level of disregard for American women." She says they should be able to make their own medical decisions without "running a gantlet of harassing and threatening protesters."
But an attorney who represented the anti-abortion protesters said the ruling "confirms that the First Amendment is for everyone." Mark Rienzi says, "The government cannot reserve its public sidewalks for Planned Parenthood, as if their message is the only one women should be allowed to hear."
Even though the ruling was a unanimous one, the court's four liberal justices -- joined by Chief Justice John Roberts -- rejected the no-protest zones on narrower grounds than the other justices used. And that prompted Justice Antonin Scalia to complain that state and local governments will still have a lot of leeway in limiting abortion protests. He wrote that the court is "giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents."
%@AP Links
194-a-08-(Kristan Hawkins, president, Students for Life America, in news conference outside the Supreme Court)-"First Amendment rights (cheers)"-Students for Life America President Kristan Hawkins praised the Supreme Court ruling on buffer zones outside abortion clinics. (26 Jun 2014)
<<CUT *194 (06/26/14)££ 00:08 "First Amendment rights (cheers)"
176-a-13-(Terry O'Neill, president, National Organization for Women, in AP interview)-"abortions are performed"-NOW president Terry O'Neill says she's outraged by the Supreme Court's ruling against the 35-foot abortion clinic buffer zone in Massachusetts. (26 Jun 2014)
<<CUT *176 (06/26/14)££ 00:13 "abortions are performed"
APPHOTO WX108: FILE - This Dec. 17, 2013 file photo shows anti-abortion protester Eleanor McCullen, of Boston, left, standing at the painted edge of a buffer zone as she protests outside a Planned Parenthood location in Boston. In a unanimous ruling Thursday, June 26, 2014, the Supreme Court struck down a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts, saying that extending a buffer zone 35 feet from clinic entrances violates the First Amendment rights of protesters. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) (17 Dec 2013)
<<APPHOTO WX108 (12/17/13)££
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