JUSTICES BACK ABORTION PROTEST ZONES : `FLOATING BUFFER' AROUND PEOPLE GOING TO, FROM CLINICS STRUCK DOWN.

Byline: Aaron Epstein Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

In a case of importance to all protesters, the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed demonstrators to be kept 15 feet away from abortion clinics - and from patients within the zone who ask to be left alone.

But the justices also struck down a lower-court order that barred nearly all protest from 15-foot ``floating bubble zones'' that surrounded patients or other targets as they moved to or from the clinics, on foot or in cars.

Both abortion-rights advocates and foes of abortion found something to cheer about and claimed victory.

The splintered rulings - the justices voted 6-3 for fixed zones and 8-1 against floating zones - were not expected to be the last word in the legal conflict over abortion demonstrations, which often have deteriorated into violence, including five killings.

Vincent P. McCarthy, who represents abortion foes, called the decision ``good news'' for all groups that frequently take to the streets to protest, including labor unions, animal rights demonstrators, gay rights advocates and street preachers.

In the case decided Wednesday, the justices upheld most parts of U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara's 1992 order imposing buffer zones on anti-abortion protesters of Project Rescue in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist described those demonstrations as involving physically abusive conduct, harassment of the police, and aggressive and sometimes violent conduct.

Such ``abusive conduct'' makes it permissible to bar ``classic speech in limited parts of a public sidewalk,'' he said. But the floating buffer zones, by requiring protesters to keep 15 feet away from moving targets, stifled more speech than necessary, Rehnquist concluded.

``With clinic escorts leaving the clinic to pick up incoming patients and entering the clinic to drop them off, it would be quite difficult for a protester who wishes to engage in peaceful expressive activities to know how to remain in compliance with the injunction,'' Rehnquist said.

A second controversial part of Arcara's order permitted anti-abortion ``counselors'' to enter the buffer zones - but required them to stop speaking and withdraw from the zone whenever a patient expressed a desire to be left alone.

That requirement appeared to conflict with the Supreme Court's declaration in previous cases that ``in public debate our own citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide adequate breathing space to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.''

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia chided the majority for sidestepping the seeming contradiction, stating flatly: ``There is no right to be free of unwelcome speech on the public streets while seeking entrance to or exit from abortion clinics.''

Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas voted to reject all parts of Arcara's injunction. Stephen Breyer was the only justice to support the judge's order in its entirety.

``We're basically pretty happy,'' said Martha Davis, legal director of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense Fund, which supports abortion rights.

``The court said that the protesters' conduct was extraordinary and didn't buy into the idea this was just a peaceful demonstration. It's important that the court reaffirmed the use of fixed buffer zones,'' Davis said.

McCarthy, who represents the two abortion foes who appealed to the Supreme Court - the Rev. Paul Schenck and Dwight Saunders - said:

``We really see this as a win for us. By overturning the floating bubble zones, the court preserved free speech on public sidewalks.''

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Photo

Photo: The Rev. Paul Schenck, who brought the case challenging a ``floating buffer zone'' at abortion clinics, hugs a supporter Wednesday.

Associated Press