Pastor jailed for Oakland anti-abortion acts

[Kadie]

Pastor jailed for Oakland anti-abortion acts
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, March 21, 2009

(03-20) 17:35 PDT OAKLAND --

A pastor at a Berkeley church was jailed Friday for 30 days after unsuccessfully arguing that an order requiring him to stay 100 yards away from an Oakland abortion clinic violates his right to free speech.

Walter Hoye, 52, of Union City was the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic.

In February, Judge Stuart Hing of Alameda County Superior Court sentenced Hoye to three years' probation and 30 days in jail, and ordered him to pay $1,000.

Hoye could have disposed of the jail time in a sheriff's work detail or by volunteering. But he balked at the judge's order to stay 100 yards from Family Planning Specialists Medical Group at Second and Webster streets. Hoye argued that the order was more severe than Oakland's ordinance and stifled his First Amendment rights.

Hing refused to budge at a hearing Friday at which Hoye's attorneys tried to stay the sentence pending an appeal. The judge asked Hoye to decide whether he wished to serve a month in jail or in an alternative program, and the pastor chose jail.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/21/BAGO16KF9J.DTL&tsp=1

[Hepburn]

1. Good....

....women making such choices have enough burden to carry without some anti-choice asshole getting in their faces and trying to give them "come to Jesus" talks.

JMHO

[EFerrari]

2. Good. Bully @sshole. Let's see how he likes being on the wrong end

of a power trip.

[Starry Messenger]

3. Good.

Disgusting creep. They should make him volunteer at a woman's shelter if he really wants to be a little helper. The day I had to go there, there was a man screaming at his wife and all the staff that the procedure was taking too long. I can't even imagine what her life must be like.

[glinda]

4. Should be stripped of his "Pastor status"

[Yavapai]

5. I hope all his teeth fall out except one, so he can still have a tooth ache!

[Luminous Animal]

6. I find this law creepy.

I am 100% pro-choice and spent years doing clinic defense, but barring protesters at women's health clinics is no different than caging off protesters into "free-speech" zones.

[kestrel91316]

7. Wrong. The point of their "sidewalk counseling" is to physically obstruct entrances,

which is what they were doing until these laws got passed.

I know. I saw them up close and personal back in the day, when I was doing clinic defense. Had one of those bastards deliperately drop a video camera on my head, and back then they were large and quite heavy.

[Luminous Animal]

10. If they obstruct

then the police have a duty to arrest for an actual infraction. A blanket prohibition that restricts speech is the wrong approach. I did clinic defense every Saturday for years also in San Francisco. I know what these so-called Christians are capable of.

[uppityperson]

8. baring them within 8 feet of anyone entering clinic. I am ok with that law.

Otherwise it turns into interfering with a woman's right for health care.

[TWiley]

9. Why are churches never picketed? Lord knows they deserve it.

We should circle one and give them little Darwin Hugs.