COLUMBUS – Democratic lawmakers and abortion-rights advocates want to establish buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect clients from escalating intimidation and violence.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Supporters say doctors and clients are facing increased harassment, particularly in the wake of secretly taped conversations with Planned Parenthood officials regarding the harvesting of fetal tissue. A number of anti-abortion rights groups and lawmakers have used the tapes to push for abortion restrictions and defunding of the health-care clinics.
As the rhetoric has ratcheted up, abortion-rights supporters say, so has the harassment. Robert Lewis Dear, 57, will be charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., nearly two weeks ago.
Lawmakers highlighted a signage truck and mailers from an anti-abortion group, Created Equal, that have targeted two Columbus physicians and physicians at Wright State University — printing their home addresses and saying the person “supports baby killing.”
“There is a fine line you walk between the First Amendment and harassment,” said Rep. Greta Johnson, D-Akron, on Wednesday. “This sends a message directly to those protesters and harassers that they will be held accountable.”