Despite repeated, and disturbingly vindictive, attempts by the government to muzzle Christians in America, this Supreme Court has consistently vindicated the First Amendment. Now it has the chance to do so yet again.
Debra Vitagliano, a Catholic woman from Westchester County, New York, has been barred from counseling pregnant women outside abortion facilities. That level of speech repression sounds more typical of authoritarian societies, but fortunately, during their conference this Friday, the court is set to vote on taking up her case. As a bonus, the court has a chance to continue undoing the decades-old legal cover provided for the abortion industry by public officials.
After the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overruled Roe v. Wade, Westchester County passed an ordinance restricting free speech around abortion facilities. It established a 100-foot zone around them and prohibited anyone from approaching within eight feet of a person in that zone to provide information or counseling unless given express consent.
Before this law was passed, Vitagliano had participated in a prayer vigil at the Planned Parenthood in White Plains, New York, where she prayed peacefully and held signs about the effects of abortion on both expecting mothers and fathers. She trained to serve as a volunteer “sidewalk counselor,” discussing life-affirming alternatives to pregnant women contemplating abortion. But she has been unable to put her training into action because, under the county law, if she approaches a woman to speak about alternatives to abortion, she could be criminally punished.
Vitagliano
