Napa Council Weighs Planned Parenthood Protest Buffer: Report

NAPA, CA — A proposed ordinance limiting the proximity to which anti-abortion protesters can encroach upon a local Planned Parenthood clinic will go before this North Bay City’s City Council Tuesday, The Napa Valley Register reports.

The proposal calls for establishing a 30-foot buffer around the clinic’s entrance according to the report.

Protesters would be allowed within the buffer zone, but they would be banned from using loudspeakers or shouting. The ordinance would also ban protesters from harassing or trailing staff or visitors who don’t wish to engage with the protesters, the report said.

Anti-abortion protesters have targeted the 1735 Jefferson St. Planned Parenthood clinic for years according to the report.

The ordinance will up for a vote Tuesday and again April 20 and would go into effect 30 days after the second vote, the report said.

The Supreme Court earlier this year upheld a Third Circuit ruling allowing a similar measure in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Courthouse News Service reports.

Read more in The Napa Valley Register