How anti-abortion activists are responding to Carbondale’s controversial “buffer zone” ordinance
Anti-abortion protester Deborah Green-Myers, from Pittsburg, Kan., demonstrates outside a recently opened Planned Parenthood clinic, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Pittsburg, Kan. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
It's been more than two years since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion. Since then, one of the flashpoints in the debates and protests that have followed ... has been the Illinois city of Carbondale.
Anti-abortion protesters became a regular presence outside a few clinics offering reproductive health services in Carbondale and last year, the city council responded with a “buffer zone” ordinance to protect the clinincs. But that set off a legal fight of its own over free speech rights and even though the city council repealed the ordinance, the fight continues -- and could matter far beyond the Carondale city limits.
A local journalist who has covered this issue joins the 21st to give the latest on all the legal actions and drama that has ensued.
GUEST
Carly Gist
News Editor, The Daily Egyptian; Reporter, "Carbondale faces legal battle over protest restrictions outside abortion clinics"