Massachusetts abortion clinics boost security, lawmakers seek fix

By Richard Valdmanis and Elizabeth Barber BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts is beefing up security around abortion clinics and scrambling for a legal fix after the U.S. Supreme Court voided the state's buffer zone law that kept protesters 35 feet away, saying it violated freedom of speech. Boston, Worcester and Springfield, the state's largest cities, have deployed extra police to clinics, and abortion-provider Planned Parenthood said it was training new "patient escorts" to help women through protests if needed. Marty Walz, director of Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts, said she has been in contact with police officials. The Supreme Court said on Thursday the 2007 law that kept protesters back 35 feet (10.6 meters) violated the free speech rights of anti-abortion protesters under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by preventing them from standing on the sidewalk and speaking to people entering the clinics.