An anti-abortion truck outside an Illinois Planned Parenthood in 2007 (Getty Images)

The Supreme Court unanimously voted against the Massachusetts law that created a 35-foot buffer zone between abortion clinics and protestors, saying it violated the First Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote (PDF), “It is no accident that public streets and sidewalks have developed as venues for the exchange of ideas. Even today, they remain one of the few places where a speaker can be confident that he is not simply preaching to the choir.”

From the AP:

The case began when Boston-area grandmother Eleanor McCullen and other abortion opponents sued over the limits on their activities at Planned Parenthood health centers in Boston, Springfield and Worcester. At the latter two sites, the protesters say they have little chance of reaching patients arriving by car because they must stay 35 feet from the entrance to those buildings’ parking lots…

The organization said that the buffer zone has significantly reduced the harassment of patients and clinic employees. Before the 35-foot zone went into effect in 2007, protesters could stand next to the entrances and force patients to squeeze by, Planned Parenthood said.

Before 2007, a floating buffer zone kept protesters from approaching unwilling listeners any closer than six feet if they were within 18 feet of the clinic. The floating zone was modeled after a Colorado law that the Supreme Court upheld. That decision was not called into question in Thursday’s ruling.

However, many who support the buffer zone cite instances of violence and intimidation. Ashley Hartman, who volunteered as a clinic escort, told Think Progress, “Buffer zones make a huge difference. The reality is, if you’ve ever been outside a clinic, it’s not about exchanging ideas… Protesting is about creating the feeling of intimidation, so the more distance you can have from them, the less powerful that intimidation is.”

Roberts also pointed out that most of the incidents occurred at one location in Boston on the weekend, “For a problem shown to arise only once a week in one city at one clinic, creating 35-foot buffer zones at every clinic across the Commonwealth is hardly a narrowly tailored solution