Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in Bruni v. Pittsburgh in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals regarding sidewalk counselors who are challenging an anti-speech abortion facility buffer zone regulation in the City of Pittsburgh.

The brief was filed on behalf of Liberty Counsel clients Colleen Reilly and Becky Biter who have regularly engaged in peaceful sidewalk counseling in Harrisburg, PA to encourage women to protect the life of their unborn children. Reilly and Biter are also challenging an anti-speech abortion facility buffer zone regulation in the City of Harrisburg. The Harrisburg buffer zone prohibits pro-life speech on public sidewalks up to 70 feet outside a Planned Parenthood abortion center. The ordinance was drafted by Planned Parenthood and passed without any debate or serious discussion by Planned Parenthood’s pro-abortion allies on the Harrisburg City Council.

Because Harrisburg is also in the Third Circuit, Reilly and Biter’s amicus brief addresses issues in the Bruni appeal that are common to both cases, to ensure that the court is well-informed on this unconstitutional violation of free speech. The trial court's ruling in Bruni, which upheld the Pittsburgh buffer zone, is wrong. It ignores Supreme Court rulings regarding the need to protect free speech activities on streets and sidewalks by requiring that regulations such as these be rigorously reviewed and be very narrowly drafted.

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