'First Amendment-Free Zones': Liberty Counsel Fights PA City's Abortion 'Buffer Zone'

Liberty Counsel is asking the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn abortion buffer zones in the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The city ordinance prohibits pro-life volunteers from one-on-one counseling near a Planned Parenthood abortion facility, and Liberty Counsel argues that's a violation of free speech.

The hearing on June 8 was the third time the Christian religious rights law firm had appeared before the appeals court to present its side in the lawsuit Reilly v. City of Harrisburg.

In 2012, the Harrisburg City Council passed an ordinance to block any interactions near abortion facilities calling it Interference with Access to Health Care Facilities. The move came after several instances where police officers responded to an abortion clinic following reports of disputes between clinic patients and pro-life activists. 

The ordinance defines the "limited buffer zones outside of health care facilities."  

"No person or persons shall knowingly congregate, patrol, picket or demonstrate in a zone extending 20 feet from any portion of an entrance to, exit from, or driveway of a health care facility," it states. 

Liberty Counsel represents Colleen Reilly and Becky Biter who engage in peaceful sidewalk counseling to encourage women to protect the life of their unborn child. The City of Harrisburg enforced the ordinance silencing Reilly and Biter on more than 70 feet of the public sidewalk in front of the Harrisburg Planned Parenthood, preventing them from quiet one-on-one conversations, counseling, prayer, and giving out pro-life brochures. 

Reilly and Biter sued the city, arguing the ordinance violated their First Amendment rights. Their legal battle has gone on for eight years. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "The City of Harrisburg infringed on pro-life speech and violated the First Amendment when enforcing the ordinance to prohibit pro-life speech about abortion. The First Amendment has always provided the most robust protection to public places, such as sidewalks, so people can gather in the marketplace of ideas."

"The ordinance and the city's enforcement actions are part of a calculated effort to appease Planned Parenthood and its preference to silence pro-life speech so it can abort unborn babies without opposition or conscience. Public sidewalks are not First Amendment-free zones," Staver added. 

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled in 2022 that Harrisburg's ordinance is constitutional, and denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, according to WITF-TV. 

The U.S. Supreme Court previously declined to hear the activists' case in July 2020. 

Liberty Counsel's 51-page reply brief to the Third Circuit states that the ordinance makes it illegal to enter the buffer zone and have a one-on-one conversation about abortion with a person entering the abortion clinic. 

The appeals court will now decide whether to uphold the lower court's case or send it back down. It is not known when the court will hand down a ruling in this case. 

CBN News reached out to the City of Harrisburg for comment. Matt Maisel, the city's director of communications, replied saying, "We do not provide comment on active litigation."

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