Federal judge hands partial victory to pro-lifers in allowing buffer zone lawsuit

A federal judge in Minneapolis ruled October 30 that a First Amendment challenge against the city’s “buffer zone” law can proceed, in what has been seen as a partial victory for pro-lifers in the city.

In 2022, the city of Minneapolis enacted a “safety zone” policy, which creates a buffer zone prohibiting free speech activity in certain areas outside abortion facilities. The group Pro-Life Action Ministries, represented by the Thomas More Society, filed a lawsuit in response to that buffer zone policy in April on the grounds that it violates freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud rejected the assertion from the pro-life group that the words “physical” and “disrupt” in the city’s ordinance are vague enough that they are left up to interpretation. However, he did allow the suit’s “freedom-of-speech, free-exercise-of-religion, and overbreadth claims,” to proceed.

“Without a developed record, it is not possible to answer the ‘narrowly tailored’ question in this case at this motion-to-dismiss stage,” he wrote.

READ: New York county suddenly reconsiders abortion facility buffer zone law

In sidewalk counseling, the members of Pro-Life Action Ministries routinely approached cars and women as they entered the city’s only Planned Parenthood facility. However, the ordinance’s enactment means the sidewalk counselors now cannot even stand on the public portion of the sidewalk outside the facility.

“The ministry of pro-life sidewalk counseling is a peaceful interaction with pregnant women to convey life-affirming alternatives to abortion,” Thomas More Society lawyer Erick Kaardal said in a statement when the suit was filed. “Yet the City of Minneapolis has specifically enacted an ordinance designed to prevent any success at conducting this peaceful interaction.”

While they are routinely vilified by both the abortion industry and the media, sidewalk counselors are often peaceful, prayerful individuals who are simply there to let women know that there is help available to them should they wish to continue their pregnancy. They offer women options when these women often feel like abortion is their only choice. Many families have spoken out in gratitude for the work of these sidewalk counselors, noting that their children would likely not be alive had they not intervened.