“No Kings” rallies, like this one in Albany last October, could run afoul of a protest “buffer zone” law proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Jim Franco/Times Union
Protesters gather outside the Planned Parenthood on State Street in Schenectady in 2017.
Theresa Schweigert is one of the anti-abortion activists who sometimes protest on the sidewalk outside the Planned Parenthood in Schenectady. A bill proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul would force those protesters to move or face arrest.
That legislation, included in the governor’s budget, would create protest buffer zones around houses of worship and facilities that offer reproductive medical services. In Hochul’s version of the bill, protests that “alarm and annoy anyone” would be forbidden within 25 feet of churches, synagogues, mosques and abortion clinics.
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The impetus for the bill, we’re told, is a protest that happened outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan late last year. The topic, broadly speaking, was the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
For sure, some of the protesters’ pro-Palestinian chants, including “globalize the intifada,” were objectionable. But it’s important to note that the protest was not targeting a religious service. Instead, it was in opposition to a group that had rented the space: Nefesh B’Nefesh, which helps Jews move to Israel and also promotes migration to deeply controversial settlements in the occupied West Bank.
You don’t have to agree with those protesters to believe in the right to protest on sidewalks and other public property. You don’t have to agree with the protesters to think Hochul’s proposed law is a ridiculous overreaction and an unwarranted attack on the First Amendment.
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At the Planned Parenthood on State Street in Schenectady, the sidewalk is separated from the building by just a few feet of grass, putting it within the proposed buffer zone. The law, then, would push Schweigert and other protesters down the street, essentially forcing them to protest in front of buildings that are not Planned Parenthood.
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Kind of obscures the point of the protest, no?
“The further you go from the abortion center, the further you are from someone who’s having an abortion and looking for a reason to change their mind,” Schweigert, a Round Lake resident, told me. “We’re courteous to passersby. We’re model citizens.”
Nevertheless, it’s likely the protests “annoy” someone, as most protests do. So, they’d have to move.
But here’s an interesting twist: Planned Parenthood is also opposed to Hochul’s proposed buffer zones.
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“While everyone deserves safe access to reproductive health care facilities and houses of worship, any policy ensuring this access must also be effective, legally durable and respect our long-held right to free speech,” said Robin Chappelle Golston, who heads Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. “The proposals we have seen fall short of that standard and should not advance.”
Planned Parenthood and pro-life activists don’t agree on much, so when they both say proposed legislation is a bad idea, maybe we should listen.
Hochul’s bill needs to be content-neutral to have even a slight chance at constitutionality. That means a pro-choice rally in front of Planned Parenthood would be as illegal as a pro-life rally. Any annoying speech within the buffer zones could be punished by 364 days in jail for the first offense and up to four years for the second.
A year in jail for speech?! Talk about Draconian. What is the governor thinking? Doesn’t she realize that criminalizing speech will get the state sued, and rightfully so?
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“I don’t stop because someone says you’re going to get sued someday,” Hochul said, as reported by the Times Union’s Dan Clark. “I get sued every day of the week.”
Keep in mind that the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act already prohibits threats or force that intimidate or interfere with a person trying to enter an abortion clinic or house of worship. So, if that protest at Park East Synagogue was out of hand or intimidating, there was already a law available to police.
Hochul’s proposal isn’t about harassment. It’s truly just about speech.
Somehow, a similar bill in the Legislature is even worse. The legislation from state Sen. Sam Sutton and Assemblyman Micah Lasher, both Democrats, includes buffer zones so broad that they would extend out into the street near clinics and houses of worship, making all sorts of speech illegal.
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As the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression notes, a recent No Kings rally in Albany happened in front of a church and two medical facilities that could be considered reproductive health clinics.
Lock those people up! That’ll teach those whiners to complain about kings!!
Or maybe we can accept that living in a free society means we might have to deal with being annoyed or uncomfortable from time to time. That we need to tolerate opinions different from our own. That public sidewalks are an acceptable place to protest, no matter what building may sit nearby.
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“Where do you go if you can’t be on the sidewalk?” Schweigert asked. “We have a constitutional right to be there.”