Supreme Court Upholds Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a precedent allowing states to enact laws that prohibit anti-abortion activists from approaching individuals entering abortion clinics. The challenge sought to overturn a Westchester County law that makes it a misdemeanor to approach within 8 feet of someone entering an abortion clinic for the purpose of protesting, counseling, or handing out materials. The justices let the lower ruling stand, upholding the law under the 23-year-old precedent, Hill v. Colorado. Several conservative justices have expressed doubts about the viability of the precedent, but the court did not dissent in its decision.