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Protesters around a Planned Parenthood center in Walnut Creek will continue to be able to express their free speech. They’ll just have to be quieter about it.
The Walnut Creek City Council last Tuesday (April 2) unanimously passed a sound ordinance that would restrict sound amplification from bullhorns and other devices within 100 feet of Planned Parenthood on Oakland Boulevard.
In 2022, the city created a buffer zone around the building after police received 42 calls for service at the Planned Parenthood facility between Jan. 1, 2020, and Nov. 5, 2021. The ordinance mandates that protesters stay at least 8 feet away from patients.
Complaints included accusations of verbal and physical harassment and intimidation of patients and protesters blocking sidewalks.
Protesters found a way around the buffer zone to let patients and Planned Parenthood workers hear their protests, again resulting in dozens of police calls and friction between the two sides. Planned Parenthood workers said at Tuesday’s meeting that the protesters could be heard inside the building with the door closed.
Councilperson Kevin Wilk said Walnut Creek becomes the first city in the Bay Area to craft a noise ordinance around a Planned Parenthood facility.
“This is one more way that we can protect women’s rights in California,” Wilk said Wednesday. “And prevent harassment to patients and employees who are trying to exercise their California state rights.”
