'Life Peace Zone' concept disagrees with state case law

According to the City Manager's office, a local man's proposal to adopt pro-life overlay districts in the City of Cincinnati and throughout the state of Ohio disagrees with state case law.

"In the State of Ohio the city's zoning power comes from the police power that has been delegated to the local level, which must not impinge upon any protected fundamental rights such as the right to privacy," City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. wrote in a report to City Council.

The Life Peace Zone concept came from Steven Gerard Sidlovsky, S.F.O., a local adjunct professor in the University of Cincinnati's Department of Mathematical Sciences.

His idea, part of a proposed Ohio Bill for Life, would make available to Ohio communities an umbrella overlay zoning district preventing the construction of any clinic or other medical facility that provides abortions.

It would also force clinics currently in operation to close down, move, or undergo a change of practice.

For the past two years, Sidlovsky has been visiting local community councils and encouraging residents to write letters of support.

While he says that 25 percent of pro-choice people will believe that the zoning overlay is a "Constitutional right", the City's Law Department does not agree.

In studying the issue, the Law Department found that the City of Cleveland has been challenged twice on zoning regulations restricting abortion services, and both times the laws were struck down by the courts.

In 1983's West Side Women's Services, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, Ohio, the court held that the city had no legitimate interest in shielding members of the community from Constitutionally-protected activities, even those which could be found offensive.

A year later, in Family Planning Clinic, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, Ohio, the court ruled that an ordinance that limits a woman's right to an abortion cannot withstand a Constitutional challenge, even if limited in geographical scope.

The court reasoned that allowing such an ordinance would open the door to a full-scale ban of abortions from all areas of the city.

"It has been recognized by the courts that one aspect of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment is a right to personal privacy," Dohoney wrote.

Previous reading on BC:
'Life Peace Zones' for Ohio, Cincinnati? (2/29/08)