City of Chicago Sued for Unconstitutional Abortion Clinic Ordinance

Thomas More Society Files Complaint Against Chicago’s Mayor and Police Superintendent

The Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago over its abortion clinic “bubble zone” ordinance on August 23, 2016. The law makes it illegal to knowingly approach within eight feet of someone who is walking towards an abortion clinic once they are within 50 feet of the entrance for the purpose of passing a handbill or leaflet or displaying a sign or engaging in oral protest, education or counseling, unless that person  consents.

This confusing law is being challenged by the Pro-Life Action League and sidewalk counselors who reach out to women who may feel they have no option other than to end their baby’s life. The complaint charges the City, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld with unconstitutionally infringing  the rights of pro-life advocates.

This civil rights action asserts  the unconstitutionality of the “bubble zone” law under  the First and Fourteenth Amendments both on its face, and as applied by the Chicago Police  through selective enforcement perhaps owing to a misunderstanding of the law and also prejudice against pro-life counselors, which has caused false arrests and harassment.

Crampton and Price at Bubble Zone Press conference

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Stephen Crampton and sidewalk counselor Veronica Price speak at a press conference detailing the lawsuit outside of Chicago Planned Parenthood.

“The precious right of free speech — so central to our constitutional republic —  is being denied to our clients on the basis of their pro-life beliefs,” explained Steve Crampton, Special Counsel for the Thomas More Society. “Pro-life advocates are being singled out and their Constitutional protections are being trampled by Chicago’s ‘bubble zone’ ordinance – a law created solely to discriminate against peaceful and law-abiding citizens  who wish to offer abortion-bound women information about alternatives to abortion. No other business or industry is sheltered in this way. Through this law, the mayor and his administration are partnering with abortion vendors to violate the rights of those who wish to reach out to women seeking abortions. They are also denying women the right to receive helpful information that many of them want to receive.”

The case details numerous Constitutional violations and other illegal abuses including:

  • Pro-life advocates being told by a policeman, upon challenging his application of the “bubble zone,” that if he was forced to go get the ordinance from the station he would come back and arrest them.
  • Police ordering sidewalk counselors that they were not allowed within 150 feet
    of an abortion provider’s entrance.
  • Law enforcement personnel insisting that pro-life advocates could only hand literature to someone who asked for it and deciding that the ordinance prohibited any kind of verbal expression by sidewalk counselors.
  • Police imposing absolute and illegal buffer zones, telling sidewalk counselors that they were prohibited from approaching within 50 feet of the clinic entrance or with eight feet of persons heading toward the clinic – even outside of the 50 foot “bubble zone.”
  • Officers stating that the ordinance banned sidewalk counselors from even standing within eight feet of anyone approaching the abortion facility door.

The complaint also details several  wrongful arrests of pro-life sidewalk counselors under the “bubble zone” ordinance and cites rampant abuse of citizen rights without provocation.

Read lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division here.

 

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