LAW CURBING PROTESTS NEAR SCHOOLS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR: Arose from Dodson Middle School incident + smf’s 2c + AB123 text
BY MELISSA PAMER, STAFF WRITER, DAILY BREEZE | HTTP://WWW.DAILYBREEZE.COM/NEWS/CI_18626575
8/06/2011 - More than eight years after graphic pictures displayed by anti-abortion protesters at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes caused students to stop in the street and stare, some of them crying, a new law will make such "disturbances" illegal.
The legislation, sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District, gives school systems the ability to stop protests near campuses when student safety is threatened. It was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday and goes into effect Jan. 1.
The law addresses a 2003 incident that prompted an anti-abortion group to successfully sue a district official and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which was found to have violated the group's First Amendment rights.
"It's pitting the right of free speech versus safety. Now that we've got this into law, we can explain that safety trumps everything,"