Minneapolis moves to create protest-free buffer zone outside abortion clinics

A Christian group has filed a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis over a law that sought to prevent protestors from blocking the entrance to abortion clinics.

Pro-Life Action Ministries is claiming that the ordinance, which was passed in November 2022, unfairly targets groups like them, and infringes on members' First Amendment rights.

In their lawsuit, PLAM explained that the city was well aware of their activities, which include approaching women as they arrive at abortion clinics and handing out pamphlets aimed at convincing them not to go through with the procedure.

They suggested that the ordinance was created "to prohibit any further exchanges between PLAM’s ministries to a woman in crisis" by making such activities illegal.

According to the ordinance, "No person shall knowingly enter onto or create an obstruction within a driveway during the reproductive healthcare facility’s business hours, except ... when crossing the driveway completely from one side of the driveway to the other without stopping or slowing and continuing to a destination beyond the furthest lot line of the reproductive healthcare facility."

PLAM included images of encounters between members and women seeking abortions to illustrate the point that they are not blocking access to the clinics. In most cases members approach women when they first pull into the driveway and attempt to hand out their pamphlets. Sometimes the driver accepts, and they engage in discussion, and other times they simply wave no thank you and keep driving. 

Lawyers for PLAM said Minneapolis' ordinance amounted to "viewpoint speech gerrymandering," and suggested it was "designed to squelch dissenting speech and to squelch the practice of sincerely held religious beliefs on the sidewalks or in the driveway of the Minneapolis Planned Parenthood facility."

Lawyer Erick Kaardal slammed Minneapolis City Councilmember Lisa Goodman, who championed the legislation, suggesting that she "made it publicly known that the enactment of Chapter 405 was a 'creative decision' while she awaits a codifying of abortion rights in Minnesota and nationwide."

Goodman was quoted earlier as saying, "Never in my 25 years of being here have I ever gotten to do something as meaningful in the reproductive rights movement."