Pro-Life Advocates Take Fight to Supreme Court: Challenging ‘Bubble Zone’ Laws that Silence Free Speech

A pro-life advocacy group, Coalition Life, is appealing to the Supreme Court to defend its First Amendment right to speak to women outside abortion facilities. The group is contesting a “bubble zone” law in Carbondale, Illinois, that restricts speech within a 100-foot area around abortion centers and healthcare facilities, effectively barring advocates from sharing pro-life perspectives. The law, passed in January 2023, has been upheld by lower courts, citing the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Hill v. Colorado, which upheld a similar “bubble zone” law.

Coalition Life argues that the Hill decision has “plagued the pro-life movement for nearly a quarter-century” and is seeking to have it overturned. The group contends that “bubble zone” laws are designed to target specific viewpoints and perspectives, rather than being neutral speech restrictions. With the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization listing Hill as an example of how abortion precedents have “distorted First Amendment doctrines,” pro-life advocates see an opportunity for the high court to correct its earlier ruling and restore fundamental First Amendment rights.

Lower courts have issued mixed rulings on bubble zone laws. In 2022, a federal judge struck down a similar law in Louisville, Ky. But in 2019, a federal appeals court upheld a 15-foot buffer zone outside Pittsburgh abortion facilities, though the court said the law did not bar peaceful, one-on-one conversations.

There is a clear need for the Supreme Court to hear Carbondale’s case and undo its Hill decision, Breen said.

“This issue is ready to be decided by the Supreme Court, they need to step in,” Breen said. “If they reverse Hill v. Colorado … that would be a great win, putting pro-life advocacy on the same footing as any other advocacy, putting pro-life speech on the same level as any other speech.”