Planned Parenthood v. Wilson

234 Cal. App. 3d 1662, 286 Cal. Rptr. 427, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8242, 91 Daily Journal DAR 12570, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 1171
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 10, 1991
DocketD011865
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 234 Cal. App. 3d 1662 (Planned Parenthood v. Wilson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Planned Parenthood v. Wilson, 234 Cal. App. 3d 1662, 286 Cal. Rptr. 427, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8242, 91 Daily Journal DAR 12570, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 1171 (Cal. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Opinion

WORK, Acting P. J.

Timothy Dee Wilson and Michaelene Jenkins (the protesters) appeal an order granting a preliminary injunction to Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties (Planned Parenthood). The order specifically restricts them from blocking or slowing cars entering from the street into the parking lot of the Mission Valley Medical Center (Medical Center) where Planned Parenthood provides medical services, including reproductive health services to which the protesters are opposed. It also enjoins the protesters from generally using the parking lot for demonstration purposes, restricting this type of activity to that portion of the public sidewalk which does not cross the driveway. The protesters contend the preliminary injunction is unconstitutionally overbroad because it unreasonably restricts their ability to reach their targeted audience, i.e. persons who are about to enter Planned Parenthood’s facility to seek abortion services or reproductive advice which may include abortion as an option. They contend prohibiting their access to the parking lot, which they characterize as a public forum, abridges their fundamental rights of freedom of expression. As we shall explain, we conclude this privately owned Medical Center is not so devoted to public use that it can be deemed the functional equivalent of the *1665 traditional public forum historically provided by town centers, public streets and public sidewalks, as is the case with the major metropolitan retail shopping mall addressed in Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Center (1979) 23 Cal.3d 899, 910 [153 Cal.Rptr. 854, 592 P.2d 341], Accordingly, we affirm the order.

Factual and Procedural Background

Planned Parenthood operates a women’s health care facility offering various reproductive health and gynecological services including abortions. The protesters oppose abortions on moral, religious and legal grounds and seek to dissuade women from having abortions and to consider alternatives. Planned Parenthood’s clinic is located in the Medical Center, a three-story building consisting of six medical offices. A single driveway leads from the street into the parking lot located behind the building. The only vehicle entrance to the parking lot crosses the sidewalk in front of the Medical Center and proceeds approximately 100 feet upwards to the rear of the building. In mid-September 1989, the Medical Center owner instructed Planned Parenthood to post five “No Trespassing” signs throughout the parking lot, including the entrance. Each parking space within the lot is specifically designated for either patients or employees of tenants only.

Planned Parenthood has provided medical services including reproductive health services to residents of San Diego County since 1969. Currently it offers abortions and abortion counseling services at this clinic, where actual abortion procedures are performed on the premises on Saturdays. Commencing in mid-August 1989, antiabortion activists began protesting and distributing literature to Planned Parenthood’s patients on Saturdays, when they departed their vehicles and approached the clinic’s entrance in the rear of the building. 1 These antiabortion activities were conducted both on the sidewalk in front of the clinic and in the rear parking lot. On several occasions, security guards have arrested protesters within the parking lot for trespass and for harassing Planned Parenthood’s patients. Declarations described the protesters’ activities as aggressively approaching patients of Planned Parenthood; verbally harassing them; chasing them up the driveway to the entrance of the Medical Center; and walking very slowly across the driveway entrance to deter patients from entering, a ploy which forced some patients to park at nearby restaurants and return by foot to face verbal harassment.

Wilson and Jenkins regularly participate in Operation Rescue blockade activities. Wilson reputedly had repeatedly harassed Planned Parenthood’s *1666 patients by forcing unwanted literature upon them. Jenkins had been arrested on numerous occasions and her actions had become increasingly intrusive, including running toward patients and vehicles within the parking lot; forcibly attempting to distribute antiabortion literature even after the material had been refused; and shouting at patients: “Don’t do it. Don’t kill your baby, they’ve lied to you. They haven’t told you how horrible it will be—how you could die from this procedure—how you might not be able to have any more babies if you have this procedure!” Jenkins had been arrested several times for refusing to leave the parking lot upon request, once being arrested for trespassing and then rearrested when she returned the same day.

When arrests did not deter these continuing harassment tactics, Planned Parenthood finally sought injunctive relief. On November 17, a temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued stating in part:

“1. Obstructing, hindering, or interfering with in any way the free and direct passage of any person in or out of Planned Parenthood;
“2. In any way obstructing, interfering with or hindering ingress or egress to the entrance to the parking lot utilized by Planned Parenthood’s clients and employees;
“3. Trespassing upon Planned Parenthood’s private property, excluding the parking lot;
“4. Shouting, screaming, chanting, yelling, singing, or producing noise which substantially interferes with Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide safe and proper health care services;
“6. Menacing, molesting, harassing, or interfering with Planned Parenthood’s clients and employees.”

The trial court denied Planned Parenthood’s request to temporarily prohibit the protesters from entering into the Medical Center’s parking lot. On January 5, after further briefing and oral argument, the trial court granted a preliminary injunction, expanding the terms of the TRO to prevent the protesters from entering the private parking lot to conduct their antiabortion activities. The injunction expressly provided:

“Defendants are enjoined from blocking the movement of cars from the street into the lot; from slowing them or sticking bodies or objects into openings; from using the parking lot for demonstration purposes. Defendants *1667 are allowed on the public sidewalk, but not the portion of the sidewalk crossing the driveway.” The expanded restrictions reflected the trial court’s conclusion the protesters had an adequate opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights on the public sidewalk in front of the building. Thus, the court impliedly rejected their argument the Medical Center parking lot constituted a public forum in which they are entitled to exercise their First Amendment rights subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. It also rejected their assertion that access to the public sidewalk did not provide them a meaningful opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights before their targeted audience. 2

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Bluebook (online)
234 Cal. App. 3d 1662, 286 Cal. Rptr. 427, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8242, 91 Daily Journal DAR 12570, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 1171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/planned-parenthood-v-wilson-calctapp-1991.