Hawaii law targeting anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers struck down

A federal court has struck down a Hawaii law obligating anti-abortion pregnancy centers to inform women that they can obtain state-funded abortions elsewhere.

District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson ruled Thursday in Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor v. Suzuki that Hawaii’s law could not be enforced because it is similar to another that was struck down in California by the Supreme Court, in a case known as National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra. In that case, the court ruled in June that the California law violated the First Amendment right to free speech.