This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
Officials concede they cannot enforce discriminatory law
A state censorship scheme that targeted the pro-life message of the members of Right to Life of Central California has backfired.
And now the state has agreed to pay $192,706 in lawyers’ fees for a court case that challenged the discriminatory law.
“Women facing unplanned pregnancies deserve to have full support and resources available to them when they choose life for their unborn children, yet the state of California unconstitutionally tried to silence the voices of those advocating on their behalf,” explained lawyer ADF Denise Harle.
“This is a significant victory not only for our client, Right to Life, but for every other speaker in California. The First Amendment protects every Californian, regardless of their viewpoint. Now Right to Life’s staff and volunteers can continue their critical mission of serving vulnerable women in the central California region with their free, life-giving services.”
The report explained the pro-abortion state’s agenda put a bull’s-eye on Right to Life’s ability to peaceably offer charitable services to women in need on the public sidewalk and street outside its own building, even in its own parking lot.
It’s because the organization is located adjacent to a Planned Parenthood abortion business, and that corporation offers clients the HPV vaccine.
The ADF represented the pro-life organization in a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom following his decision to sign a law that unconstitutionally restricted the speech of the group’s members, based on their viewpoint and content.
The state, in fact, created a 100-foot “censorship zone” outside any location that provides any vaccine.
The law, SB 742, “banned certain free-speech activities when a speaker is within 30 feet of another person and that other person is ‘in a public way or on a sidewalk area’ and ‘within 100 feet of the entrance or exit of a vaccination site and is seeking to enter or exit a vaccination site,’” ADF reported.
That means the state was censoring the pro-life organization’s constitutional right to peaceably offer its services.
The settlement also includes the admission by California officials that they cannot enforce discriminatory parts of the law.
“Right to Life’s primary means of outreach to women considering abortion is through its Outreach Center, which is located next to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s main Fresno abortion facility. Right to Life shares free resources, provides support services, and offers informational leaflets while standing on the public sidewalks in front of its Outreach Center and between the Outreach Center and Planned Parenthood’s property,” the ADF explained.
Copyright 2023 WND News Center
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