A local ordinance that would restrict protestors from picketing individuals within 75 feet of their home is proposed in Bellevue, Nebraska. Protestors from Rescue the Heartland, an anti-abortion group, told the Bellevue Leader that they have been protesting at the homes of abortion clinic staff for more than 15 years.
Clinic nurse Margie Hover told the City Council in a hearing that “the protestors tell my daughter that her mother is a murderer” and another clinic staffer, Sherry Hron, said that “their goal is to intimidate or terrorize us until I quit a perfectly legal job,” according to KETV.com. Larry Donlan, director of Rescue the Heartland, claims that the protests are peaceful.
There is local debate as to the constitutionality of the ordinance, which attempts to balance both privacy and free speech rights. The Bellevue City Council plans to vote on the proposed ordinance on October 27.
