Detroit Sued Over Health Care Buffer Zone Ordinance

The Thomas More Society, a Chicago public interest law firm, sued Detroit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of a Michigan man and a Texas nonprofit that oppose abortion over the 2024 Detroit abortion clinic buffer zone ordinance:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2026/03/19/group-sues-over-buffer-zone-law-for-detroit-health-care-facilities/89225149007/

Group sues over buffer zone law for Detroit health care facilities
By Charles E. Ramirez - March 19, 2026
The Detroit News

Abortion opponents are suing the city of Detroit, claiming a 2024 ordinance that created buffer zones around health care facilities violates their right to free speech.

A civil complaint was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit by the Thomas More Society, a Chicago public interest law firm, on behalf of a Michigan man and a Texas nonprofit that opposes abortion.

The suit names the city of Detroit as a defendant.

The plaintiffs, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, a group that offers "life-affirming alternatives to all present at abortion and abortion-referral facilities, thereby eliminating demand and ending abortion," and one of its certified "Sidewalk Advocates," Michigan resident and retired attorney Kevin Hammer, are seeking to block the city from enforcing the ordinance, $1 in damages, plus legal costs.

Sidewalk Advocates for Life operates its programs at some 230 facilities nationwide at more than 30% of abortion sites and reports at least 24,000 women chose life-affirming alternatives after engaging with its representatives, according to the complaint.

Hammer, according to court documents, has represented the group as a sidewalk advocate since about September 2025. The filing said he stands on the public walk outside of The Scotsdale Women’s Center on Seven Mile Road in Detroit for about 90 minutes on Fridays, offering information about free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and alternatives to abortion. The complaint said he also holds a 2-foot by 4-foot sign that says "Ask Me About Free Ultrasounds and Pregnancy Tests."

Hammer claims in the suit that the clinic staff has called the police on him more than once because of his activities. It said that at least twice, police officers have shown up. On one of those occasions, they arrived in five patrol cars.

Attorneys for Sidewalk Advocates for Life and Hammer argue in the complaint that Detroit's ordinance, "which is enforceable through criminal penalties, violates the Free Speech, Free Exercise, and Freedom of Assembly Clauses of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as the Michigan Constitution."

City officials said on Thursday they had not yet seen the complaint.

Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero proposed the ordinance that sparked the complaint in 2024 to provide unimpeded access to medical services and protect the First Amendment rights of demonstrators.

The council approved the ordinance in October 2024.

The law creates two types of zones, designated areas intended to create a physical or spatial separation between two or more entities or activities.

One zone is the area within a 100-foot radius of a health care facility's entrance, in which people are not allowed to get within 8 feet of another person to hand out a flier, hold a sign, or protest in other ways.

The second is the area within a 15-foot radius of a health care facility's entrance, in which people — except emergency, public safety, and security personnel — are prohibited from congregating, patrolling, picketing, or demonstrating.

Violations of the law are misdemeanors.