JUDGE RULES CALIFORNIA CAN’T REQUIRE PREGNANCY CENTERS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON GOVERNMENT ABORTION PROGRAMS

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

 RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A superior court judge in California has ruled that a state 

law requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to provide information about 

government abortion programs runs afoul of the California Constitution.

“Here, the State commands clinics to post specific directions for
whom to contact to obtain an abortion. It forces the clinic to point the
way to the abortion clinic and can leave patients with the belief they
were referred to an abortion provider by that clinic. … In Scharpen’s
case that would be inaccurate, profoundly inaccurate,” wrote Judge
Gloria Trask.

She said that there are other ways for the government to get its
message out besides forcing those who are opposed to abortion to provide
the information.

“Compelled speech must be subject to reasonable limitation,” Trask
said. “The statute compels the clinic to speak words with which it
profoundly disagrees when the state has numerous alternative methods of
publishing its message. … In this case, however virtuous the State’s
ends, they do not justify its means.”

As previously reported,
in 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Reproductive FACT Act into law, a
measure that has been dubbed the “bully bill” by pro-life groups in the
state. The bill had been authored by Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu,
who outlined in the law that he takes issue with pregnancy centers that
don’t provide abortion referrals to women.

“The author contends that, unfortunately, there are nearly
200 licensed and unlicensed clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers
(CPCs) in California whose goal is to interfere with women’s ability to
be fully informed and exercise their reproductive rights, and that CPCs
pose as full-service women’s health clinics, but aim to discourage and
prevent women from seeking abortions,” it reads.

The legislation therefore requires that licensed pregnancy care
centers provide the following message to clients in print: “California
has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to
comprehensive family planning services (including all FDA-approved
methods of contraception), prenatal care, and abortion, for eligible
women. To determine whether you qualify, contact the county social
services office at (telephone number).”

But Scott Scharpen, pastor at Rock Valley Christian Church in
Murietta and founder of Go Mobile for Life, said that he could not
comply with the requirement and therefore went to court to challenge the law. Go Mobile for Life operates a mobile pregnancy center that provides free ultrasounds to women.

“I will not post that notice in our clinic. I would rather close the
clinic than post that notice,” he said in a statement released by his
attorneys with Advocates for Faith and Freedom. “Now, by law, we are
required to provide referral information to a woman for services that we
find morally and ethically objectionable, namely abortion.”

“If the California state government gets away with telling pregnancy
clinics what to say and even how to say it, then ALL faith-based
businesses are at risk of being bullied into delivering the government’s
mandated speech,” Scharpen stated. “We must stand up and fight this
unconstitutional law for the benefit of all people!”

On Monday, Judge Trask ruled in favor of Scharpen, declaring that
“[t]he legislature may not use the wall of the physician’s office as a
billboard to advertise the availability of low cost abortions.” She
declared the Reproductive FACT Act to be in violation of Article 1,
Section 2 of the California Constitution, which reads, “Every person may
freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects,
being responsible for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or
abridge liberty of speech or press.”

Scharpen applauded the ruling, which he characterized as a “huge victory for free speech.”

“The whole notion of being compelled to share information with our
patients about abortion availability, which is contrary to our mission
and purpose, is fundamentally wrong. Lives will be saved because of this
ruling,” he said.