The court of appeals reversed a district court judgment in part, affirmed in part, and remanded the action for further proceedings. The court held that a city ordinance was facially constitutional where it created “bubble” zones around the entrances to reproductive health clinics in which it was unlawful to approach a person seeking entry to a clinic with an intent to engage the person in conversation. The court held further that the city unconstitutionally engaged in selective, content-based enforcement of the ordinance where it admittedly enforced the ordinance only as to those who opposed abortion.
Walter Hoye was a “sidewalk counselor” who regularly stood outside reproductive health clinics in the City of Oakland, trying to engage women in what he termed a “friendly conversation” to dissuade them from having an abortion.
