3rd Circuit Finds Combined Restrictions On Abortion Leafleting Are Unconstitutional

In Brown v. City of Pittsburgh, (3d Cir., Oct 30, 2009), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals held that Pittsburgh's combination of a 15 foot buffer zone and a 100 foot "bubble zone", when taken together, were unconstitutional on their face in restricting anti-abortion leafleters. As described by an AP story on the decision: "The Pittsburgh law bans protesters from standing within 15 feet of entrances but also makes them stand 8 feet from clients in a 100-foot buffer around entrances." According to the court, the combined restrictions are not narrowly enough tailored to survive a free expression challenge. It said: "the layering of two types of prophylactic measures is 'substantially broader than necessary' to achieve" the governmental interests involved. However, the court said, either restriction by itself could be constitutional. Plaintiff also claimed that the ordinance violates her free exercise of religion because it impermissibly interferes with her religiously motivated efforts to dissuade women from undergoing abortions. The court however found that the restriction is a valid facially neutral law of general applicability. It also concluded that the law does not violate Pennsylvania's Religious Freedom Protection Act.