Abortion proponents’ clinic proposal attacks
peaceful 40 Days for Life vigils in New York

WASHINGTON, DC – “It’s no coincidence that on the opening day of this fall’s nationwide 40 Days for Life campaign, a New York city council member joined with prominent abortion advocacy groups at city hall to propose sweeping new legislation designed to stifle peaceful pro-life expression on the streets of the nation’s largest city,” said David Bereit, national campaign director of 40 Days for Life. “This proposal flies in the face of both freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and reasonable New Yorkers won’t tolerate it.”

The proposal would create 15-foot buffer zones around “reproductive health care facilities” and seems to target, among others, Chris Slattery, who directs 40 Days for Life campaigns in the Bronx and Queens and has a history of effective pro-life activism as president of Expectant Mother Care-EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers.

Under the plan, clinics would be permitted to file harassment charges against anyone within the 15-foot area without even having to prove intent. “This legislation is clearly intended to harass and intimidate peaceful people who are often simply standing and praying; when they do speak to women outside the facilities, they’re not ‘harassing’ anyone,” said Bereit. “The simple fact is that telling people the truth about abortion is detrimental for the clinics’ business.”

“These mostly volunteer street counselors,” agreed Slattery, “often hurt abortion businesses by successfully and peacefully dissuading abortion patients from entering their sites when offered free help, education, medical care and housing.”

The legislative proposal was announced at a news conference that included representatives of Planned Parenthood, NARAL, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Dr. Emily’s Women’s Health Center – an abortion corporation whose Bronx location is the site of a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil.

Slattery says he will vigorously oppose the legislation. “Within minutes of learning of this new proposed bill on Wednesday, I contacted David Bereit, and we have begun assembling a crack legal team and activist support network for a full scale counter-attack against this unfair, biased and blatantly unconstitutional bill,” he said.

The 40 Days for Life campaign is a community-based effort that is going on in more than 170 cities from coast to coast. It began September 24 and continues through November 2.