A public high school student newspaper for many years has
accepted advertising from local businesses to help pay the costs of
publishing the paper. The school has no written policy on what
ads it does and does not accept, but it has never turned down any ad
before the incident described below.
The faculty advisor to the paper has refused to allow the newspaper to
publish an ad from a local Planned Parenthood clinic that states its
location and the services it provides which include gynecological
exams, birth control, pregnancy testing, and pregnancy counseling and
referral. The advisor explains his decision on the ground that the
school does not want to
encourage sexual activity among its students and Planned Parenthood
provides contraceptives to teenagers. He argues that an ad in
the paper
promoting access to contraceptives will undermine the school’s
abstinence policy.
Planned Parenthood sues the school on the ground that the decision to
reject its ad violates its First Amendment rights. What result
and why?