Pro-life activist sues California city over abortion clinic 'bubble zone' law
A pro-life activist has sued a California city for a recently passed ordinance that makes it harder for protesters to actively engage people entering abortion clinics and other facilities.
Earlier this month, Roger Lopez filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, seeking injunctive relief and a jury trial. Lopez has frequently engaged in prayer and sidewalk counseling outside an abortion clinic in the city over the past several decades.
At issue was a law approved by San Diego earlier this year that builds upon a previous ordinance restricting protests within 100 feet of the entrances to healthcare and religious buildings.
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Lopez argues that the new law wrongfully interferes with his longtime efforts to counsel and encourage women seeking an abortion not to terminate their pregnancies.
“One favorite tactic to suppress sidewalk counselors’ speech is to draw speech-free zones around pedestrians and motor vehicle occupants passing outside clinics so that counselors are forced to shout at them from a creepily unnatural distance,” claimed the suit.
“Where such bubble zones exist, many counselors’ ministry is rendered ineffective, and few have any alternative means to share their hopeful message with women in need.”
The complaint claims that the new law “silences pro-life views” in multiple ways, as it allegedly “broadly prohibits any request to speak that might ‘harass’ or ‘intimidate’ a passerby, leaving those terms vague, undefined, and wholly indecipherable.”
Peter Breen, executive vice president at the Thomas More Society, which is helping to represent Lopez, said in a statement that he believes “San Diego’s bubble zone ordinance is a coordinated attempt to silence and shut down pro-life speech where it matters most: on the public sidewalk outside abortion businesses.”
“The right to freedom of speech is at its highest on the public sidewalk, so attempts like San Diego’s to silence pro-life speech outside abortion businesses is an especially egregious attack on our constitutional rights,” Breen continued. “We are proud to defend the First Amendment rights of sidewalk counselors, like Roger Lopez, who have dedicated their lives to sharing the pro-life message of hope and offering alternatives to abortion-bound women in need.”
In June, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed the Buffer Zone Access Law, which expands previously existing restrictions on protesters at healthcare facilities, schools and houses of worship.
According to the new law, any pro-life protester within the 100-foot abortion clinic entrance bubble must get permission from a woman seeking an abortion before they can approach to give counsel. Additionally, any abortion clinic can file a lawsuit against an individual demonstrator if they believe their operations were disrupted or impaired by their actions.
San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott celebrated the new law in a June statement, saying it was “an important step in protecting every San Diegan’s access to education, healthcare and religious institutions.”
“My hope is that these much-needed measures will serve as a model for cities and states around the country. Together, we will continue to fight to keep access to medical care, education and worship free of violence and obstruction,” wrote Elliott.
