FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE FIRST-AMENDMENT - SCHENCK V. PRO-CHOICE NETWORKAND THE RIGHT TO APPROACH AND OFFER IN ABORTION CLINIC PROTESTS

In this note, Darrin Hostetler examines the Supreme Court's method of resolving conflicts between the First Amendment rights of protesters o utside abortion clinics and the rights of women seeking abortions. Hos terler argues that, in fashioning a reasonable compromise between thes e two opposing camps, the Court has inadvertently trampled on a fundam ental First Amendment value that figures prominently in free speech ju risprudence: the right of an individual to personally ''approach and o ffer'' a message or idea to another person through face-to-face contac t. By devaluing the right to approach and offer, the Court has effecti vely overruled a number of time-honored First Amendment cases premised on that right. He concludes that the Court should return to a more tr aditional method of balancing speech rights against other constitution al interests, as illustrated by cases involving the religious group Je hovah's Witnesses. Doing so would safeguard speech rights and restore doctrinal integrity while simultaneously protecting a woman's legal op tions.