DETROIT (WWJ) — An ordinance that aims to protect patients seeking medical services from protestors at healthcare facilities has been approved by Detroit City Council.
The goal of the ordinance is to create a "bubble zone" between protesters and patients seeking care at clinics, including abortions.
Following a second-straight day of public comment, the council on Tuesday passed the ordinance by a 7-1 vote, with councilwoman Angela Whitfield-Callaway being the lone no-vote and councilmember Scott Benson abstaining.
The ordinance will prevent people from protesting within 15 feet of a healthcare facility’s entrance. Additionally, within 100 feet of a facility’s entrance, no one will be allowed to come within eight feet of a person with the purpose of handing them a flier, holding a sign or protesting in other ways.
Violators of the proposed ordinance would face a misdemeanor.
The measure was put forward by City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who said during Monday’s two-hour public comment period the ordinance would in particular protect people from abortion protesters.
“I had the opportunity to go this Saturday to one of the clinics. I was not there to receive any kind of service. And as I was walking to the clinic door, a man in his early 20s, without asking me anything, said, ‘I’m here to save your baby, please don’t kill your baby, don’t abort your baby.’”
Santiago-Romero said she was taken aback.
“And I will tell you, in those moments, I went numb. I felt overwhelmed because, what if I was pregnant? What if I was there and I’m having this incredibly hard choice to make? That kind of pressure is, quite frankly, inappropriate.”
People on both sides of the proposal spoke during public comment.
“I’m begging you. Human lives are at stake. Moms need our help and we need to be able to talk with them in a human, real way, without this artificial, eight-foot zone between us and them,” one person said Monday.
Meanwhile, a volunteer clinic escort said “I have seen firsthand some of the people who have given public comment themselves harass women who are trying to access medical care.”
In the end, the proposal passed through committee and will go in front of the full council on Tuesday.
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