Anti-abortion opponents say they won't drop their lawsuit against Portland, even though Portland last night dropped its ordinance placing a "buffer zone" around the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic. Attorney Erin Kuenzig of the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan represents Maine activists who are challenging Portland's buffer zone.
"I think it would signal to the City Council in considering any future legislation that might attempt to restrict First Amendment rights without considering any other alternatives that are available to it," Kuenzig says.
Portland councilors promised they would look into alternate steps that would protect the clinic patients and pass constitutional muster. The 7-1 vote to repeal the buffer zone ordinance comes after the U.S. Supreme court struck down a similar buffer zone law in Massachusetts.
