The Human Relations Committee of the Chicago City Council has voted unanimously in favor of the proposed ordinance, which would restrict the proximity of picketers outside any medical clinic. Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League believes the Council is trying to take away pro-lifers' First Amendment rights to speak to people on the public sidewalk.

"They're talking about an eight-foot 'bubble zone' around each person coming to a medical facility, which means abortion clinic," he explains. "[And] they're trying to keep us 50 feet away from the entrance door to hospitals, medical clinics, healthcare facilities -- in other words, abortion clinics."[..]

Scheidler says the ordinance, which will come up for a vote before the Council as early as Wednesday, is obviously directed at stifling the constitutional rights of pro-lifers. If it passes, he says the Thomas More Society, which is based in the Windy City, is likely to file suit.