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The state of California said Tuesday that a pro-life outreach center can continue its sidewalk campaign to deter women from entering a nearby abortion clinic.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office will not enforce the provisions of a 2021 law that had barred demonstrations by Right to Life of Central California near the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fresno.
The state also will pay $192,706 in attorneys’ fees and expenses to the pro-life center’s lawyers.
Mr. Bonta’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a lawsuit, the pro-life group had challenged SB 742, which restricted protests near any health clinic offering vaccinations. The law required protests to take place 100 feet away from a vaccine-offering facility and protesters not to approach people within 30 feet of a facility.
The Planned Parenthood clinic in Fresno provides HPV vaccines.
The Right to Life group, represented by the public interest law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, sued the state six days after Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed the law.
State Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and Sacramento Democrat who sponsored the bill, said at the time that SB 742 was to apply to protests near COVID-19 vaccination sites.
But the law, which carried penalties of up to six months in a county jail, a $1,000 fine or both, outlawed protests within 100 feet of any vaccination site, critics said.
ADF senior counsel Denise Harle called the settlement “a significant victory” for the Right to Life organization “and for every other speaker in California.”
“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,” Ms. Harle said.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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