Boston will deploy extra police around the city's abortion clinics starting on Friday to prevent potential unrest after the Supreme Court knocked down the state's "buffer law" keeping protesters back 35 feet, according to Reuters.
The Supreme Court on struck down the Massachusetts law that mandates a protective buffer zone around abortion clinics to allow patients unimpeded access, according to Reuters.
On a 9-0 vote, the court said the 2007 law violated the free speech rights of anti-abortion protesters under the First Amendment of the Constitution by preventing them from standing on the sidewalk and speaking to people entering the clinics, Reuters reported.
"We will have an increased police presence around these facilities tomorrow from 7:30 a.m. to noon, at which point we will assess," said Kate Norton, spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Reuters reported. "There is always concern when a measure that has been put in place for public safety is removed."
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is running for governor, called the decision a "disappointment" and a setback, according to Reuters. Massachusetts anti-abortion groups greeted the decision as a victory for free speech.
Abortion provider Planned Parenthood said it would train additional "patient escorts" to help patients enter their facilities if protesters seek to block them, Reuters reported.
The buffer-zone case began when Boston-area grandmother Eleanor McCullen and other abortion opponents sued over the limits on their activities at Planned Parenthood health centers in Boston, Springfield and Worcester, according to Reuters.
At the latter two sites, the protesters say they have little chance of reaching patients arriving by car because they must stay 35 feet not from the clinic entrances but from the driveway to those buildings' parking lots, Reuters reported. Patients enter the building through the parking lots, which are private property, Reuters reported.
