Case Categories: Anti-Abortion Protests and Free Speech

This is a list of First Amendment cases involving anti-abortion protests and free speech.

Abortion has been one of the most volatile issues in the United States and at times, speech about it has implicated First Amendment freedoms.

In essence, there are two rights at stake: the privacy rights of patients and staff members at health care facilities and the rights of speech, assembly, and petition of pro-choice and anti-abortion protesters.

• American Life League v. Reno (4th Cir.) (1995)

  American Life League v. Reno (4th Cir. 1995) upheld the constitutionality of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act against a First Amendment challenge...

• Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic (1993)

  Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic (1993) dealt with the First Amendment right of protest and ruled that protesters’ actions were not a conspiracy...

• Hill v. Colorado (2000)

  Hill v. Colorado (2000) said a state statute regulating protestors outside of health facilities did not violate the First Amendment and was not content based...

• Hirsh v. City of Atlanta (1990)

  Hirsh v. City of Atlanta (1990) said an injunction prohibiting an anti-abortion group from demonstrating near abortion clinics did not violate the First...

• Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. (1994)

  Madsen v. Women’s Health Center, Inc. (1994) addressed the conflict between the First Amendment rights of antiabortion protestors and women’s constitutional...

• McCullen v. Coakley (2014)

  In McCullen v. Coakley (2014) the Court ruled that a state law prohibiting individuals from standing in a buffer zone outside an abortion facility violated the...

• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006)

  Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2006) said racketeering laws could not be invoked to challenge antiabortion protests protected by the First...

• Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997)

  Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York (1997) upheld fixed buffer zones around abortion clinics but said floating buffer zones violate the First...