Sabelko

ORDER

The opinion filed on October 19, 1995 is hereby withdrawn.

OPINION

We reconsider whether a City of Phoenix ordinance which imposes a “floating buffer zone” restriction upon demonstrators outside of health care facilities violates the First Amendment. We affirm the district court’s decision declaring the Phoenix ordinance unconstitutional and enjoining its enforcement.

I

In 1993, the City of Phoenix, Arizona enacted an ordinance limiting demonstration activity near health care facilities due to concern about harassment outside such facilities. The ordinance makes it unlawful “for any person, in the course of demonstration aetivi *163 ty within the access area of a health care facility, to fail to withdraw upon a clearly communicated request to do so to a distance of at least eight (8) feet away from any person who has made the request.”

Plaintiffs-Appellees Katherine Sabelko and Nancy Barto refer to themselves as “sidewalk counselors” who engage in demonstration activity outside abortion clinics in Phoenix. The plaintiffs filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in district court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the City of Phoenix on the grounds that the…