CV NEWS FEED // Chicago’s mayor recently released a plan that calls for the strict enforcement of “bubble zones” around abortion clinics.
The plan, “A Blueprint for Creating a More Just and Vibrant City for All,” is one of the first major initiatives undertaken by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration since his inauguration as mayor in May 2023. According to the plan, a “bubble zone” around an abortion facility “bars individuals from approaching within eight feet of a person within 50 feet of an abortion clinic if their purpose is to engage in counseling, education, leafleting, hand billing, or protest.”
The bubble zones are not a new concept particular to Johnson’s administration; Chicago’s bubble zone ordinance, which institutes safe spaces around all healthcare buildings and abortion clinics, has been in effect since 2009. Though these safe spaces have existed for over a decade, Johnson is calling for stricter application and more enforcement of the ordinance “to make Chicago stronger, safer, and better.”
According to Johnson’s blueprint, the enforcement of bubble zones and other measures will provide “structural changes necessary for all girls, women, transgender, gender nonconforming, and LGBTQ+ persons in Chicago to thrive. This includes freedom from the fear of violence and discrimination and full access to rights, resources, services, opportunities, and decision-making.”
However, the safe spaces are specifically aimed at restricting the actions of pro-life sidewalk counselors, who pray outside abortion clinics and engage with pregnant mothers in attempts to dissuade them from abortion and provide them with different resources.
According to The Christian Post, sidewalk counselors and pro-life organizations are angry that Johnson is focusing on protecting people’s right to kill their unborn children instead of the high numbers of shootings and crime rising in Chicago.
“The Pro-Life Generation, sometimes gathering on sidewalks for counseling, advocates for no violence inside or outside of the womb,” a Students for Life of America spokesperson told The Christian Post. “Rather than addressing murder, the mayor wants to target people trying to save lives, echoing the pro-abortion bias of President Biden’s Department of Justice. Students for Life Action will use its grassroots base to call out these anti-life policies and engage on behalf of the preborn in Illinois.”
Both Mayor Johnson’s office and Students for Life of America have not responded to a request for comment at this time.
