9th Circuit protects abortion recruiting as free speech

On Monday, Ninth Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown joined by Judge John Owens decided in Matsumoto v. Labrador that efforts to recruit Idaho residents to travel to Oregon and Washington to have an abortion is protected free speech under the First Amendment. This struck down an Idaho law that specifically banned “recruitment” for abortion.

Independent of one’s views on abortion, this seems to me to be a sound decision. However, opinions on the First Amendment tend not to have that kind of independence. Wouldn’t it be nice if progressives were as robust in their support for free speech rights for speech they disagreed with?

Eric Shierman lives in Salem and is the author of We were winning when I was there.