Quieting Speech: Establishing a Buffer Zone Around Reproductive Freedom

Abstract

The First Amendment and reproductive freedom have recently been pitted against each other on more than one occasion. In June 2014, the Supreme Court held that a Massachusetts law creating a buffer zone in front of abortion-providing centers was a violation of the First Amendment. In Maryland, the city of Baltimore and Montgomery County have passed ordinances to regulate crisis pregnancy centers (“CPCs”), which would effectively require the facilities to advertise that they are not medically licensed and do not provide abortion care. The president of a group of CPCs describes CPCs as “organizations out to offer ‘pro-life counseling;’” pro-choice proponents, however, “argue that the centers are deceptive, presenting themselves as medical facilities and even abortion clinics in order to lure pregnant women in, and then bombard them with guilt trips, emotional abuse, and even lies in an effort to keep them from having abortions.” In two cases, CPCs in Maryland have sued to enjoin these ordinances.