Opinion ID: 1698486
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Government interests

Text: Operation Rescue claims that no significant government interest is implicated. We disagree. Numerous government interests, all of which rise to the level of significant or higher, are apparent. Our state has a strong interest in protecting the constitutional rights, both state and federal, express and implied, of all Florida's citizens, including its women. A woman's freedom to seek lawful medical or counseling services in connection with her pregnancy constitutes a clear personal right under both our state and federal constitutions. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); In re T.W., 551 So.2d 1186, 1193 (Fla. 1989). Our state also has strong interests in ensuring the public safety and order, in promoting the free flow of traffic on public streets and sidewalks, and in protecting property rights of all Florida's citizens. The United States Supreme Court delineated an additional government interest in Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 108 S.Ct. 2495, 101 L.Ed.2d 420 (1988), wherein the Court addressed the issue of picketers demonstrating outside the home of an abortion clinic doctor in violation of a city ordinance banning all residential picketing. The Court, in upholding the ordinance, noted that the protection of residential privacy constitutes a significant government interest and that [o]ne important aspect of residential privacy is protection of the unwilling listener. Id. at 484, 108 S.Ct. at 2502. Although in many locations, we expect individuals simply to avoid speech they do not want to hear, the home is different. That we are often captives outside the sanctuary of the home and subject to objectionable speech ... does not mean we must be captives everywhere. Instead, a special benefit of the privacy all citizens enjoy within their own walls, which the State may legislate to protect, is an ability to avoid intrusions. Thus, we have repeatedly held that individuals are not required to welcome unwanted speech into their own homes and that the government may protect this freedom. Id. at 484-85, 108 S.Ct. at 2502 (citations omitted) (quoting Rowan v. United States Post Office Dep't, 397 U.S. 728, 738, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 1491, 25 L.Ed.2d 736 (1970)). We conclude that the reasoning underlying this government interest in residential privacy applies even more convincingly to the state interest in ensuring medical privacy. Florida citizens are entitled to both unimpeded access to licensed medical facilities and freedom from unwanted confrontations and communications when undergoing lawful medical treatment, particularly where the effect of such confrontations is to place the patient's health and safety in jeopardy.