Buckle your seat belts, and don’t expect it to ever happen again…but California actually did something right.

The state’s powers that be are generally busy ending due process for gun owners (here) or similarly doltish things. And this story isn’t about the proper actions of West Coast politicians. But just in time for the weekend, a district court within state lines decreed some much-needed common sense.

On Friday, a federal judge in San Diego struck down the state’s Reproductive FACT Act, which, bafflingly, required pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to provide information on abortion.

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The law was challenged by a conglomerate of pro-life organizations, represented by Michael Farris of the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom.

The ruling comes only a few months after the Supreme Court’s June 26th ruling that the legislation was likely in breach of the First Amendment.

In the aftermath of the victory, Farris had this to say:

“The government has no business forcing anyone to express a message that violates their convictions, especially on deeply divisive subjects such as abortion. California disregarded that truth when it passed its law forcing pro-life centers to advertise for the abortion industry. The district court’s order puts a permanent end to that law in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June, which rightly found that ‘the people lose when the government is the one deciding which ideas should prevail.’”

In summary:

“The outcome of this case affirms the freedom that all Americans have to speak — or not to speak — in accordance with their conscience.”

In what world does it make sense for the government to force organizations formed to provide alternatives to abortion to actually market the very thing they oppose? If there could be something worse than preventing someone’s free speech, it would be forcing them to engage in expression with which they vehemently disagree.

California has made some breathtakingly bonehead moves in the past; thank God this one got set right. Now if only we could get rid of…well, most of the people in the state legislature? ‘Til then, we can relish this triumph of liberty.

Other RedState articles on abortion: here and here.

See 3 more pieces from me: Kimmel & Acosta, Deadpool 2, and Tom Selleck & mustaches.

Find all my RedState work here.

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