California state officials have agreed to pay $192,706 in attorneys’ fees to settle with a pro-life group in a free speech case, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced Tuesday.
The ADF filed a lawsuit in October 2021 on behalf of Right to Life of Central California after Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law, SB 743, restricting 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.”
The ADF explained in the lawsuit that the law restricted the pro-life organization’s ability to offer services to women in need on the public sidewalk and street outside its own building and its own parking lot because it is located next to a Planned Parenthood abortion facility that administers the HPV vaccine. As part of the settlement, state officials agreed not to enforce parts of the law against Right to Life or any speaker, according to the ADF.
“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,” said ADF Senior Counsel 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,” Harle continued. “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.”
Following the settlement, ADF attorneys filed a stipulated dismissal of the case.
The case is Right to Life of Central California v. Bonta, No. 1:21-at-963 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
