Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Both Abortion Factions Try to Silence Opponents
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
March 11, 2019

Share

Abortion is a divisive moral and political issue that generates ceaseless heated debate, as it should.

However, it also entices those who feel passionately about it, one way or the other, to use politics to shut down the other side.

Opinion

Dan Walters
CALmatters Commentary

The Democratic supporters of the 2015 “Reproductive Fact Act” tried to justify it as supporting women’s reproductive rights, but it was a very clear violation of constitutional free speech rights, as the U.S. Supreme Court declared last year.

We saw a prime example of that in the California Legislature’s self-righteous efforts to compel clinics offering non-abortion services to pregnant women to post notices telling them about the availability of abortions.

The Democratic supporters of the 2015 “Reproductive Fact Act” tried to justify it as supporting women’s reproductive rights, but it was a very clear violation of constitutional free speech rights, as the U.S. Supreme Court declared last year.

“By compelling petitioners to speak a particular message, it alters the content of (their) speech” and thus violates a previously enunciated judicial principle, the majority opinion declared. “For example, one of the state-sponsored services that the licensed notice requires petitioners to advertise is abortion – the very practice that petitioners are devoted to opposing.”

The 5-4 decision took a slap at the California-centered 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, known for its tilt to the liberal side of issues, for its willingness to abridge free speech.

Just as Guilty of Trying to Shut Down the Pro-Abortion Faction

“Although the licensed notice is content-based,” it continued, “the 9th Circuit did not apply strict scrutiny because it concluded that the notice regulates ‘professional speech.’ But this court has never recognized ‘professional speech’ as a separate category of speech subject to different rules. Speech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by professionals.”

That’s also an important point, because clearly the legislators and then-Gov. Jerry Brown had painfully attempted to avoid the free speech issue in the legislation by portraying it as just a consumer protection measure.

While the Supreme Court’s ruling cheered those on the anti-abortion side of the debate, they are just as guilty of trying to shut down the pro-abortion faction.

The flip side of the unconstitutional California law is that 18 states require that women contemplating abortions be given counseling either about a purported, but unproven, link between abortion and breast cancer, the ability of the fetus to feel pain and/or long-term mental health consequences of abortion.

That attitude – that women should be manipulated – is also evident in new regulations promulgated by the Trump administration prohibiting clinics receiving federal family planning funds from offering abortions or referring women to abortion services.

An Attack on Women Everywhere

Last week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit challenging the new rules.

“The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women’s health. This illegal Title X rule denies patients access to critical healthcare services and prevents doctors from providing comprehensive and accurate information about medical care.” – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra

“The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women’s health,”  Becerra said. “This illegal Title X rule denies patients access to critical healthcare services and prevents doctors from providing comprehensive and accurate information about medical care.”

Becerra’s Capitol news conference announcing the suit was joined by some 20 women lawmakers, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

“This gag rule is an attack on women everywhere,” Siebel Newsom said.

Yes, it is a gag rule that abridges free speech, just as the California law did, although the rule may be on slightly firmer constitutional ground since it involves the expenditure of funds and wouldn’t affect clinics that don’t receive those funds.

Regardless, one either believes in free speech as a constitutional right or one doesn’t. And it’s important that the principle be upheld no matter how heated the debate or divisive the issue.

CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

[activecampaign form=19]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Clovis Unified Families ‘Resigned’ To Grad Ceremony Ban, Attorney Says

DON'T MISS

Hegseth Orders the Name of Gay Rights Activist Harvey Milk Scrubbed From Navy Ship

DON'T MISS

Knicks Fire Coach Tom Thibodeau After First Eastern Conference Finals Berth in 25 Years

DON'T MISS

US Judge Dismisses California’s Tariff Lawsuit, Teeing up Appeal

DON'T MISS

Young Democrats Offer Lessons for Their Leaders at Party Convention

DON'T MISS

California Prisons Have a Narcotics Problem. Now, More People Will Face Canine Searches

DON'T MISS

After Years of Undrinkable Water, Our Rural California Community Finally Has Hope

DON'T MISS

Fellow Clovis Councilmember, Public Bash Pearce Over Trans Athlete

DON'T MISS

Musk Calls Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’

DON'T MISS

US Tariffs Could Put Air Safety at Risk, Aerospace and Airline Industries Warn

UP NEXT

Why Trump Is Mad at ‘Sleazebag’ Leonard Leo

UP NEXT

Newsom Tussles With Local Officials Over Homelessness

UP NEXT

California’s War Over Charter Schools Rages On in Court

UP NEXT

Why Did the California Senate Shunt a Cost-Cutting Housing Bill?

UP NEXT

Fresno’s Crime Beat Didn’t Prepare Me for What I Saw on a Ride Along

UP NEXT

The MAGA Revolution Threatens America’s Most Innovative Place

UP NEXT

California’s High Living Costs and Rampant Poverty Sharpen Its Economic Divide

UP NEXT

Three Well-Tested Ways to Undermine an Autocrat

UP NEXT

Test Your Memorial Day Knowledge With This Quiz

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom’s Off-the-Mark Budget Numbers Undermine His Credibility Again

US Judge Dismisses California’s Tariff Lawsuit, Teeing up Appeal

9 hours ago

Young Democrats Offer Lessons for Their Leaders at Party Convention

10 hours ago

California Prisons Have a Narcotics Problem. Now, More People Will Face Canine Searches

10 hours ago

After Years of Undrinkable Water, Our Rural California Community Finally Has Hope

11 hours ago

Fellow Clovis Councilmember, Public Bash Pearce Over Trans Athlete

11 hours ago

Musk Calls Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill ‘a Disgusting Abomination’

11 hours ago

US Tariffs Could Put Air Safety at Risk, Aerospace and Airline Industries Warn

12 hours ago

Trump to Sign Order Doubling Metals Tariffs, White House Says

12 hours ago

California Inmate Gets Five Years for Role in Drone Drug Smuggling Scheme

12 hours ago

Millions Invested in Land for Innovation Village. Will It Be a Fresno Game-Changer?

12 hours ago

Clovis Unified Families ‘Resigned’ To Grad Ceremony Ban, Attorney Says

Barring any last-minute about-faces by Clovis Unified officials, eight high school seniors won’t be joining their classmates at their ...

6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Clovis Unified Families ‘Resigned’ To Grad Ceremony Ban, Attorney Says

7 hours ago

Hegseth Orders the Name of Gay Rights Activist Harvey Milk Scrubbed From Navy Ship

7 hours ago

Knicks Fire Coach Tom Thibodeau After First Eastern Conference Finals Berth in 25 Years

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a chart next to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
9 hours ago

US Judge Dismisses California’s Tariff Lawsuit, Teeing up Appeal

10 hours ago

Young Democrats Offer Lessons for Their Leaders at Party Convention

10 hours ago

California Prisons Have a Narcotics Problem. Now, More People Will Face Canine Searches

11 hours ago

After Years of Undrinkable Water, Our Rural California Community Finally Has Hope

11 hours ago

Fellow Clovis Councilmember, Public Bash Pearce Over Trans Athlete

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend