The United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Tuesday that California cannot force pro-life pregnancy centers in the state to advertise abortions.
In a majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court struck down the law as a violation of the First Amendment. Thomas rejected California’s argument that “professional speech” was a separate category from that covered in the Bill of Rights, noting that “[s]peech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by ‘professionals.’”
“As with other kinds of speech, regulating the content of professionals’ speech ‘pose[s] the inherent risk that the Government seeks not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to suppress unpopular ideas or information,’” Thomas continued, noting that “[t]hroughout history, governments have “manipulat[ed] the content of doctor-patient discourse” to increase state power and suppress minorities.”
Thomas also rejected the argument that the requirement was medically necessary, and observed that it singled out pregnancy centers without applying to other facilities that offer similar services.
“The notice does not facilitate informed consent to a medical procedure. In fact, it is not tied to a procedure at all. It applies to all interactions between a covered facility and its clients, regardless of whether a medical procedure is ever sought, offered, or performed,” he wrote. “If a covered facility does provide medical procedures, the notice provides no information about the risks or benefits of those procedures. Tellingly, many facilities that provide the exact same services as covered facilities […] are not required to provide the licensed notice.”
Hawaii and Illinois have similar laws that this ruling should overturn.
I salute my former Patrick Henry College colleague Michael Farris, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, for arguing this case before the Supreme Court.
Photo, U.S. Supreme Court at Dusk by Joe Ravi [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
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