WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday rejected review in a Missouri case on whether abortion or other types of protest signs can be banned as hazards.
Anti-abortion activists gathered at a street corner in Kansas City in June 2001 to protest and provide information about abortion.
The intersection was bordered by a grocery store, a couple of shopping centers and a strip mall. The demonstrators placed themselves between the sidewalk and the curb, about 3 feet from the street.
Court records said the demonstrators stuck poster-sized signs in the ground, some of which contained graphic color photographs of aborted fetuses. One showed a decapitated fetus.
Police said the signs were distracting the heavy traffic. The demonstrators refused a request to move the signs farther from the road, court records said.
Warned they would be arrested if they did not move or remove the signs, the protesters refused. Five were arrested for obstructing traffic. When the federal courts refused to find a constitutional violation, the demonstrators asked the Supreme Court for review.
