Detroit City council restricts pro-life sidewalk counseling and free speech

Following public comment, the Detroit City Council approved a new ordinance that restricts free speech around abortion facilities and health centers despite opposition from pro-life commenters. 

Voting 7-1 to approve the measure on October 1, the council established “buffer zones” and a “bubble” around the sites. Voting against the ordinance was Councilwoman Angela Whitfield-Calloway (D). It was introduced by Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who has claimed that women are harassed by sidewalk counselors on their way into abortion providers. 

In an interview, veteran pro-life leader Dr. Monica Miller said she is frustrated and dispirited by the council’s actions. Miller was present at the council meeting, as were several women who had decided to keep their babies rather than abort them because of sidewalk counseling. She and husband Edmund Miller have conducted sidewalk counseling for decades.

“I’m taking this very personally. Four of the women I talked out of abortion at the Summit Women’s Center in Detroit personally testified and addressed the council. One of them even brought her saved baby. But it made no impression. What does it take?,” Miller said with emotion. She agreed that the ordinance may be a violation of the free speech guarantees of the First Amendment, saying she has sought legal counsel to defend constitutional rights. During the hearing, supporters of the ordinance criticized pro-life testimony as coming from outsiders who do not live in Detroit, which is a majority black city. Miller said, “I don’t understand that. Something like 90 percent of the babies we save are black. We are doing a service.”

During the hearing, Councilwoman Santiago-Romero claimed she was traumatized outside an abortion facility on September 28 when a “white male” there asked her “Please, don’t kill your baby,” as she ran away. She said such offers of help to women are inappropriate. Mayor Mike Duggan (D) must sign the ordinance into law, which would then go into immediate effect. 

The ordinance would establish two types of zones: one would  be a 100-foot radius from the entrance to abortion facilities, where no person can come within 8 feet of another person for the purpose of protesting, holding a sign, or handing out information. The law would also establish a zone with a 15-foot radius where congregating, patrolling, demonstrating, or picketing in front of the entrance of an abortion provider is prohibited. Police, security, and emergency personnel are excepted. Failure to comply with the ordinance would be a misdemeanor offense.

Pastor Adam Kuehner of Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church in suburban Detroit was also at the hearing and predicted that free speech will be restricted by the new ordinance. Miller agreed with him, saying “This really negatively impacts our ability to talk to these mothers as they are going into abortion clinics. We have to remain 100 feet away and then stay 8 feet away from anyone going in, even somebody walking a dog. Where we are hanging our First Amendment objections is that we have to get permission to talk to somebody,” she said.  

In Carbondale, Illinois, a local “bubble zone” ordinance is being challenged by Coalition for Life in a case that is being sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for consideration. The pro-life group charges that the ordinance directly targeted sidewalk counseling in the southern Illinois city. A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the group by the Chicago-based Thomas More Society law firm. The high court had earlier upheld these free-speech restrictions in Hill v. Colorado but will now re-examine such laws in the light of the overturning of the Dobbs v. Jackson case in 2022. During discussion on the case, the justices spoke about how “abortion distortion” had inflected previous decisions by the Supreme Court. 

According to Coalition for Life, “The outcome of this case will impact our work across the country, as well as many other organizations and volunteers engaged in outreach. Coalition Life’s ambitious goal is to expand sidewalk counseling to other sites until every woman seeking an abortion in the U.S. is met with a loving and effective advocate for life.”

The similar ordinance in Detroit could now also go to Washington for examination by the justices.