Supreme Court to Take Up Abortion Protest Regulations

Mass. law requires clinic protesters to stay 35 yards away

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a challenge to a Massachusetts law that ensures access for patients at clinics that offer abortions.

Anti-abortion protesters challenged the law, saying it violated their constitutional rights, including their right to freedom of speech, by preventing them from standing on the sidewalk and speaking to those entering clinics.

The case concerns a 2007 law that amended an existing statute that restricted conduct outside abortion clinics by introducing a blanket 35-yard (32-meter) no-entry zone that only allowed patients, staff, passers-by and emergency services to enter.