Abortion opponents lost a round in federal appeals court as the court upheld a New Hampshire law allowing clinics to establish buffer zones between its clients and protesters. The opponents wanted the court to declare preemptively that the law violated free speech, but the court declined saying there was no case until a buffer zone was actually in place. (New Hampshire Union Leader, January 11, 2017, by Dave Solomon)
Opponents said an unconstitutional law should not be in place even though there has been no attempts to put the law to work. In 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court struck a Massachusetts law similar to the New Hampshire law. The Massachusetts law did not mandate buffer zones. (KRCR News, January 12, 2017, by Zachary Lathouris of the Associated Press)