Clearwater, Fla., to abide with injunction on buffer ordinance at abortion clinic

TAMPA, Fla. — The city of Clearwater said it will abide with a Georgia appeals court, which struck down an ordinance that created distance between protesters and patients at a reproductive health care clinic.

In a Dec. 4 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said a vehicle buffer zone that the City Council unanimously approved in March 2023 infringes on the First Amendment rights of protesters with the nonprofit Florida Preborn Rescue.

The ordinance prohibits protesters from entering the Bread and Roses Woman’s Health Center driveway. It also prevents them from getting within 5 feet of the sidewalk on either side of the driveway. Violators could face a civil citation and $130 fine.

Florida Preborn Rescue, based in Pinellas Park, sued the city in 2023 over the buffer zone and requested an injunction on the ordinance while the lawsuit played out. A Tampa federal judge denied the motion.

The Georgia court’s opinion this month ordered the district court to instate the injunction. Joelle Castelli, a city spokesperson, said in an email Tuesday that officials are not intending to seek further review.

“We respect the court’s decision and will no longer enforce the vehicle safety zone,” she said.

The nonprofit has argued the ordinance targets individuals with “a pro-life viewpoint,” and the 5-foot buffer makes it impossible for them to hand out leaflets to people entering and leaving the center.

“This ruling is a resounding win for free speech and the voiceless preborn,” said Tyler Brooks, an attorney for the organization. “Our clients simply seek to exercise their constitutional right to share resources and abortion alternatives peacefully with abortion-vulnerable women.”

The ruling was 2-1, with Judge Nancy Abudu dissenting. Abudu said the city created the buffer zone “in response to law enforcement’s repeated requests for more effective policing in the area.”

From January 2022 to January 2023, the Clearwater Police Department received 73 calls from the clinic, which involved “continuing and recently escalating confrontation,” Abudu wrote.

“It is difficult to even visualize how a distance of five feet seriously burdens (Florida Preborn Rescue’s) ability to leaflet and otherwise communicate with those entering the clinic,” Abudu said. “Moreover, the fact that FPR has alternative channels of communication available further demonstrates why the Ordinance is constitutional.”

The Clearwater City Council adopted the ordinance after protests at the clinic became “a tinderbox ready to explode.”

“It does not prevent the protesters from being heard,” City Attorney David Margolis said of the ordinance in 2023. “It does not push them across the street, it does not push them out of earshot, it doesn’t even really push them out of eyesight.”

The clinic, which provides reproductive health care services, is off South Highland Avenue, a high-traffic road. Volunteers with the clinic, who escort patients into the building, said the protesters create public safety concerns.

Protesters don’t just pass out leaflets. They rush toward vehicles, knock on car windows and yell at patients that they are “murderers” and “going to hell.” They often bring their children with them.

Jean Johnston, director of the clinic’s volunteer program, said it’s “sheer luck” there hasn’t been an accident yet.

“The safety zone has helped tremendously in making our entrance a safer place for everybody, for patients coming in, for staff people, for escorts, for protesters, for the kids that they bring,” Johnston said.

At the time of the city’s decision to approve an ordinance, Assistant City Manager Dan Slaughter was police chief and said the demonstrations at the clinic had become dangerous.

He showed the City Council a compilation of body camera footage at the clinic, which included a video of someone confronting a protester after he and his family were harassed on the way to a nearby animal hospital.

In an emailed statement, Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy said he is aware of the court’s decision and will abide by it.

“The court also pointed out that there are less-restrictive state statutes that we can use to apply to certain behaviors we have seen in the past at that location; we plan to apply those if necessary,” Gandy said, adding: “Should the need arise, we will also increase our directed patrols in the area.”

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the National Abortion Federation has said abortion clinics have faced a spike in violence and harassment. Johnston said many clinics throughout the country are working to get buffer zones instated or are fighting to keep them in place.

“We really urge the city to continue taking the proactive stance that they took with enacting the buffer zone,” Johnston said. “This clinic is not an isolated incident at all.”

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