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Published: April 9, 2009

“Bubble law has backfired”

Imprisoned pro-life pastor gets early jail release for ‘good behavior;’ case has given new energy to anti-abortion movement in Bay Area

The Rev. Walter Hoye, the Berkeley pastor sent to jail for violating Oakland’s abortion clinic ‘bubble ordinance,’ has been released after serving 18 days of his 30-day sentence. A source close to the case told California Catholic Daily that Hoye’s sentence was reduced by 10 days for “good behavior,” plus additional credit by the sentencing judge for the time Hoye spent confined in a patrol car after his arrest.

Hoye walked out of the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday. One of his last visitors while incarcerated was Oakland Bishop-designate Salvatore Cordileone, who met with Hoye on Saturday at the jail. "He visited Walter Hoye because he respects Hoye's affirmation of the value of human life," diocesan spokesman Mike Brown told the Contra Costa Times.

The Contra Costa newspaper noted that Hoye’s imprisonment had invigorated pro-lifers, reporting the Baptist pastor “went free Tuesday with a wider, louder network of anti-abortion supporters than before he went to trial.”

For years, Hoye had been a pro-life fixture outside Family Planning Specialists Medical Group in Oakland until his arrest and eventual imprisonment. The scene outside the abortion center has changed dramatically since then, said the Times, reporting: “The sidewalk near Jack London Square that Walter Hoye patrolled weekly -- accompanied by two elderly church women -- drew a crowd of a few dozen protesters Tuesday morning for another in a series of vigils aimed at painting the law as an attack on free speech. Now, as Hoye pushes to reverse a judge's order to stay away from the clinic, his backers said the city's year-old ‘bubble law’ -- which bans approaching within 8 feet of a potential client trying to enter a clinic -- has backfired.”

"They would have been in a better position if they would have left him alone,” Dion Evans, pastor of Alameda's Chosen Vessels Christian Church,” told the newspaper. “They picked on one man on one street, one day a week trying to reach one woman at a time with one sign for one hour. Now a mobilization has come together because they've created an unjust law. People like myself who have been cheerleading are not on the sidelines anymore. We're now in the game."

On Friday, March 20, Alameda Superior Court Judge Stuart Hing sentenced Hoye to 30 days in jail and fined him $1,130 for violating Oakland’s ‘bubble law,’ which was crafted specifically to keep pro-life sidewalk counselors away from women entering abortion centers.

Hoye had initially been charged with four counts of violating the ordinance – two counts of “unlawful approach” and two counts of using “force, threat of force or physical obstruction” against ‘escorts’ at the clinic. The charges stemmed from two separate incidents – one on April 29, 2008 and one on May 13, 2008. Hoye was arrested on May 13 after a clinic staff member called police. He was carrying a 40-inch sign that read, "Jesus Loves You & Your Baby. Let Us Help You," and attempting to hand out pro-life literature.

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