Two pro-life advocates in a New York county recently won a lawsuit challenging a 2022 local law that restricted free speech and pro-life counseling around abortion facilities.
Pro-lifers Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli sued over a provision of Westchester County’s Reproductive Health Care Facilities Access Act that banned “interference” with access to abortion “by deceptive means or otherwise,” a news release from Thomas More Society (TMS), the legal nonprofit that represented them in court, stated.
According to TMS, the provision severely restricted pro-life activity around the abortion facilities, including handing out leaflets or holding sidewalk conversations with pregnant women about alternatives to abortion. The provision also carried heavy penalties, including jail time, fines, and civil liability.
A federal court ruled Aug. 12 that the county violated Hulinsky and Molinelli’s free speech rights, upholding a March court decision that ruled against the county’s request to dismiss the pro-lifers claims.
TMS Senior Counsel Michael McHale stated in the release that the provision was a “vague ban on so-called ‘interference’ with abortion access” and said it was “in blatant violation of the First Amendment.”
TMS Senior Counsel Christopher Ferrara added that the ruling “sends a powerful message to municipalities nationwide: vague laws targeting pro-life speech will not stand.”
“Westchester County’s pro-life sidewalk counselors seek only to offer compassionate, life-affirming alternatives on public sidewalks — as is their First Amendment right,” Ferrara continued. “Westchester’s arrogant overreach tried to silence their voices, but this decision helps reaffirm their constitutional freedom to share the pro-life message.”
Despite the legal win, TMS intends to appeal the court’s March decision that protects the provision’s ban on “following-and-harassing,” which the law defines as ignoring an “implied request to cease” conduct or actions on a public sidewalk.
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Author: Hannah Hiester
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