Pro-Lifers Free Speech Protected

A federal court yesterday struck down a provision of a California law that threatened the right of pro-lifers to exercise their First Amendment rights on public sidewalks outside abortion clinics.

In 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 742, which criminalized speech and other First Amendment activities outside any “vaccination site,” including Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics that dispense Gardasil and other STD vaccines.

The law specifically outlawed “harassing,” which lawmakers redefined as approaching within 30 feet of another person or occupied vehicle “for the purpose of passing a leaflet or handbill to, displaying a sign to, or engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling with, that other person in a public way or on a sidewalk area.” These are all activities pro-lifers frequently engage in on public sidewalks.

SB 742 was, in effect, a gift from lawmakers to abortionists who wanted to squelch pro-lifers’ First Amendment rights. (Excerpt from LifeNews.)