Nearly 100 Organizations Demand New York Lawmakers Reject Proposals for Anti-Speech Zones Outside Houses of Worship and Reproductive Health Clinics

Anti-speech zones would unconstitutionally trample on New Yorkers’ rights to free speech and assembly

NEW YORK – Today, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) sent a letter to Governor Hochul, President Pro Tempore Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie opposing legislative or executive proposals that seek to create anti-speech zones outside of New York’s houses of worship and reproductive health clinics. The letter details how any proposal that would create anti-speech zones open the door to arbitrary and biased policing, recklessly endanger New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights, and are unnecessary given existing protections under state and federal law.

Nearly 100 organizations signed on supporting the letter, including free speech advocates, civil liberties and civil rights organizations, reproductive rights supporters, Jewish and Muslim leaders, and immigrants’ rights groups, criminal legal system reformers, public defenders, privacy advocates, education advocates, and other voices.

“Whether it’s First Amendment experts, religious leaders, or reproductive healthcare advocates, New Yorkers across the board are saying loudly and clearly that unconstitutional anti-speech zones have no place in our state,” said Justin Harrison, Senior Policy Counsel at the NYCLU. “Creating anti-speech zones to prohibit protest outside New York’s houses of worship and reproductive health clinics would trample on New Yorkers’ First Amendment rights, open the floodgates for selective and biased policing, and undermine the robust protections that already exist in New York law for anyone entering and leaving a house of worship or health clinic. At a time when the Trump administration is aggressively targeting, arresting, and even killing dissenters, lawmakers should not give police new ways to criminalize speech and punish protest.”

“As a Jewish New Yorkers, we can understand that the image of people protesting outside a synagogue can spark discomfort and even real fear, and we strongly believe that people should be able to pray and observe religious holidays without fear of harassment,” said Sophie Ellman-Golan, Communications Director at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ). “But when houses of worship host non-religious political events, they are making a choice with the knowledge that they might be protested for doing so; and restricting protest is not the best interest of any New Yorkers — including Jews.”

“New York does not protect religious freedom by narrowing constitutional rights,” said Lukee Forbes, Executive Director of We Are Revolutionary. “If houses of worship choose to be civically engaged shaping public debate, influencing policy, and mobilizing their congregations then they are participating in the public square and must remain open to peaceful public expression like any other civic institution. We can protect communities from harassment and hate without granting the government new authority to carve out speech-free zones that weaken the First Amendment for everyone.”

“Every day, patients and staff rely on New York’s clinic access law to protect their right to be free from force, threats, or physical obstruction when seeking or providing reproductive health care,” said Christian LoBue, President, National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund. “Governor Hochul’s budget proposal to create blatantly unconstitutional anti-protest zones limits free speech and invites broad legal challenges that could ultimately strip away existing reproductive freedom protections. This provision is a gift to anti-abortion forces, and we urge the Governor to remove it from the budget and protect the legal ground that keeps reproductive health care accessible.”

“As reproductive justice advocates, we unequivocally oppose Governor Hochul’s proposed anti-protest bill around places of worship and reproductive health clinics,” said NYC for Abortion Rights. “The bill would further encourage law enforcement, including the NYPD, to criminalize and brutalize New Yorkers whose views oppose those of the state. Further, the bill would lead to an increased presence outside health care facilities, intimidating patients and possibly even deterring them from seeking care.”

“The Dignity in Schools Campaign of New York is opposed to any laws that criminalize and punish protest,” said Andrea Ortiz, Director, Dignity in Schools Campaign of New York. “Many students in our country right now are afraid of speaking out publicly, and New York must not make it harder for anyone to practice their rights to speak and assemble. If this was about real safety, then it would be a concerted effort to push the federal government to reinstate the “sensitive locations” policy and re-establish sanctuary zones where ICE could not terrorize our communities, including in schools, courthouses, hospitals, parks, religious institutions, ceremonies AND demonstrations.”

“As an LGBTQ+ rights organization, we are deeply concerned that Governor Hochul’s proposed buffer-zone budget proposal risks silencing communities already confronting escalating censorship in libraries, cultural institutions, and online platforms,” said Jared Trujillo, Law & Policy Counsel, Equality New York. “At a time when the Trump Administration is openly challenging LGBTQ+ people’s visibility in public life, imposing a new constitutionally suspect criminal penalty for speech is not simply misguided but dangerous. True allyship means safeguarding our ability to gather, protest, and speak about our rights, not narrowing those freedoms through ill-conceived policy.”

“This Trumpian proposal would, regardless of their stated intention, suppress freedom of speech, particularly for students and families,” said Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari and Marina Marcou-O’Malley, Co Executive Directors, Alliance for Quality Education. “Not only do existing laws already protect access to places like schools and clinics, but in our current political climate, pushing such legislation would further criminalize protest and put students and families at risk of targeting by law enforcement agencies such as ICE. In New York City — a city of millions of students and worshippers attending tens of thousands of schools, churches, mosques, and synagogues — such a law would discourage people from exercising their First Amendment rights, and would only promote fear making our democratic institutions even more fragile. [and rights at a time of unprecedented attack].”

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