Pro-life sidewalk counselor censored by oppressive town ordinance
DALLAS, Texas, August 24, 2023 – Human Coalition on Thursday filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a pro-life sidewalk counselor and her free speech case.
In the case of Vitagliano v. County of Westchester, Human Coalition supports Debra Vitagliano, a volunteer sidewalk counselor and occupational therapist for special needs children in White Plains, New York, who was prevented from carrying out her peaceful ministry to vulnerable women.
A June, 2022 Westchester County, New York ordinance imposed a 100-foot “buffer zone” around the local Planned Parenthood abortion facility. Within this zone, the county forbade counselors like Vitagliano from approaching within eight feet of people with information on alternatives to abortion, unless they received the express consent to give this information.
Human Coalition’s brief details how the law actually harms women by denying them full informed consent before an abortion.
Chelsey Youman, National Director of Public Policy for Human Coalition, on Thursday stated:
“Debra Vitagliano is a hero who shows up for preborn babies in what is scheduled to be their last moments of life as they are brought into Planned Parenthood and gives their mothers hope in the most dire of circumstances.
“We support the work of counselors like Debra Vitagliano who care for women enough to show them support systems – like those offered by Human Coalition – exist outside of abortion. This is true care to empower women, not abandoning them and their children to the
abortion industry. But, rather than assisting Debra in serving these desperate Westchester County women, the city has chosen instead to villainize her by imposing an ordinance that perniciously singles out pro-lifers because of their views on abortion.
“Even worse, this law cuts women off from potentially life-changing options at a critical point in their lives. Human Coalition clinics serve women in this position every day, and we know that the vast majority – 76% – of our clients say they would prefer to parent if their circumstances were different. Pregnant women want and need a support system that affirms their dignity and the dignity of their children. Laws like this one cruelly funnel them into an abortion facility while blocking them off from community members who – unlike Planned Parenthood – stand ready and willing to extend compassion and direct them to clinics offering tangible help.”
Human Coalition’s brief also reveals how women actually want more information before making a decision about abortion, including on the economic and social support systems that might be available to them.
About Human Coalition
Human Coalition is one of the largest pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-family organizations in the country, committed to making abortion unthinkable and unnecessary. Founded in 2009, Human Coalition has grown from a simple internet outreach idea into a comprehensive care network that reaches women facing unexpected pregnancies, rescues innocent preborn children from abortion, and restores families to stability.