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Article: Abortion access versus free speech; Supreme Court hears case on Colorado's 'bubble' around people entering.(USA)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- January 19, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Faced with the prospect of disruptive and potentially violent antiabortion demonstrations outside medical clinics across the state, the Colorado Legislature in 1993 passed a law designed to insulate patients from protesters and their message.
The so-called "bubble law" created an 8-foot moveable buffer zone around anyone within 100 feet of a medical facility. A protester can approach closer than eight feet only by obtaining permission from the patient.
The US Supreme Court will consider on Jan. 19 whether the Colorado law strikes the proper constitutional balance between a patient's right to gain access to medical facilities and the protesters' right to ...