In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Massachusetts law that established 35-foot buffer zones around abortion clinics “violates the First Amendment.”
“The Massachusetts Act violates the First Amendment,” the decision states. “By its very terms, the Act restricts access to ‘public way[s]’ and ‘sidewalk[s],’ places that have traditionally been open for speech activities and that the Court has accordingly labeled ‘traditional public fora.’”