Thursday, 4:30 PM
Governor's office backs renewed push for wider buffer zones at abortion clinics
By Globe Staff
State lawmakers are renewing their effort to establish fixed, 35-foot buffer zones around clinics that perform abortions, this time with the support of the governor's office.
A bill that is the subject of public hearing on Beacon Hill today would change a 2000 law that created an 18-foot zone around clinics. Under the law, demonstrators are allowed within this zone but must remain at least 6 feet away from patients and staff unless granted permission to come closer.
State Senator Jarrett Barrios sponsored the same bill last year, but did not have the support of then-Governor Mitt Romney. This year, Governor Deval Patrick's undersecretary of public safety, Mary Beth Heffernan, is expected to testify in favor of the measure.
The 2000 law, sparked by the killings of clinic workers in Brookline in 1994, was a compromise forged under the leadership of then-House speaker Thomas Finneran, who opposed abortion. The current House speaker, Salvatore F. DiMasi, supports abortion rights and has indicated he would support this bill.
Abortion opponents have said a fixed buffer would hamper good-faith efforts to educate women about alternatives to abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union has also raised concerns that a uniform boundary for all health clinics could unnecessarily restrict free speech in some locations.
Attorney General Martha Coakley is expected to testify in favor of the bill, as is Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral and Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Keating.
