By Bob Egelko | San Francisco Chronicle
California violates the freedom of speech of antiabortion clinics called “crisis pregnancy centers” by requiring them to notify their patients that the state makes abortions available at little or no cost, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In striking down a 2016 state law, Justice Clarence Thomas said the regulations force the clinics to provide a “government-drafted script” about state-sponsored services that includes the availability of “abortion — the very practice that (the clinics) are devoted to opposing.”
“Throughout history, governments have manipulated the content of doctor-patient discourse to increase state power and suppress minorities,” Thomas said in an opinion for a 5-4 conservative majority. He quoted a study that cited government interference in medical care in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
