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Published On: Fri, Aug 1st, 2014

Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick ignores Supreme Court ruling, order abortion clinic ‘buffer zone’

The Supreme Court ruled, but the Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick appears determined to keep a buffer zone around abortion facilities signing a bill which would prohibit pro-life speech around abortion clinics. The previous “buffer zone” law that forbid pro-life advocates from speaking to women within 35 feet of a clinic was struck down by the Supreme Court in late June.

 photo twitter: Abortion rally in Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled protests on abortion are protected as free speech and freedom to assemble, but the battle wages on in Massachusetts photo twitter: Abortion rally in Texas

Patrick has signed a bill on July 30 which would reinstate the previous buffer zone rules despite the Supreme Court justices decided unanimously that the previous law prohibiting free speech was unconstitutional.

Known as the “An Act to Promote Public Safety and Protect Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities”, Patrick said in a statement that he was “proud to sign” Senate Bill 2283.

“I am incredibly proud to sign legislation that continues Massachusetts leadership in ensuring that women seeking to access reproductive health facilities can do so safely and without harassment, and that the employees of those facilities can arrive at work each day without fear of harm,” said Governor Patrick.

“As fast as they can get it through the House and signed, Massachusetts will have a law which is worse than the old Buffer Zone,” Anne Fox, spokesperson for Massachusetts Citizens for Life

It effectively creates a 25-foot zone and the penalties are scary – $50,000 and three years in jail. The legislature is in the process of disrespecting the Supreme Court and penalizing law-abiding citizens,” Fox said.

“Planned Parenthood employs a huge number of people in the state who all drone on about their abuse by pro-lifers.  No legislator picked up on the pro-lifers’ demands for pictures or videos of the alleged incidents,” she said.

“The buffer zones burden substantially more speech than necessary to achieve the Commonwealth’s asserted interests,” the court said in June.

“Petitioners wish to converse with their fellow citizens about an important subject on the public streets and sidewalks — sites that have hosted discussions about the issues of the day throughout history,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. Though the state has an interest in public safety, attempting to prevent confrontations, it “pursued those interests by the extreme step of closing a substantial portion of a traditional public forum to all speakers.”

 

 

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About the Author

- Roxanne "Butter" Bracco began with the Dispatch as Pittsburgh Correspondent, but will be providing reports and insights from Washington DC, Maryland and the surrounding region. Contact Roxie aka "Butter" at theglobaldispatch@gmail ATTN: Roxie or Butter Bracco

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  1. Dr Fredrick N Dyer says:

    Dear Ms. Bracco:
    Kudos for “Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick ignores Supreme Court ruling”

    You may appreciate information about the laws overturned by Roe v. Wade, including their 19th Century Boston/A.M.A. origin and their profound effect on our current population.I have placed a huge amount of material related to Boston’s Horatio Robinson Storer, M.D., LL.B. (1830-1922) on http://horatiostorer.net/ and HERE

    Dr. Storer founded American Gynecology and was the major impetus for the American Medical Association effort that led to the laws against abortion that were overturned by Roe v. Wade.Of particular interest is the Storer-written 1860 AMA “memorial to Congress and the several State legislatures of the Union, with the prayer that the laws by which the crime of procuring abortion is attempted to be controlled may be revised, and that such other action may be taken in the premises as they in their wisdom may deem necessary.”

    The 19th Century abortion laws that resulted have had a profound effect on who is alive today in the U.S. Here is a recent article on this that is destined for the “Links” page of the website:

    http://www.aleteia.org/en/health/interview/interview-with-frederick-dyer-about-horatio-robinson-storer-5757334940811264

    I hope you will come to agree that this needs to be discussed widely and in U.S. History and U.S. Law courses and textbooks.

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