An anti-abortion protester is suing the city of San Diego in federal court to protest a newly-enacted ordinance covering speech outside various sites, including healthcare facilities.
Under the updated city law, speech is restricted within 100 feet of the entrance to certain sites, including those that provide reproductive care, churches and schools. and further restricted within an 8-foot bubble around persons within that zone.
On behalf of anti-abortion advocate Roger Lopez, who has engaged in protests outside of San Diego abortion facilities, attorneys filed the federal lawsuit against the city on Sept. 5, arguing that the ordinance violates the First and 14th amendment rights of those who seek to offer information on alternatives to abortion.
The women entering abortion facilities, attorneys with the Thomas More Society argue, also should have the right to hear the information. Lopez, said Paul M. Jonna, special counsel to the society, is a “pro-life sidewalk counselor.”
“We look forward to holding the city of San Diego accountable for this unconstitutional assault on free speech rights,” Jonna said.