Court OKs Encouraging Abortion Violence
S A N F R A N C I S C O, March 28 -- A federal appeals court threw out a record$109 million verdict against anti-abortion rights activists today,ruling that a Web site and wanted posters branding abortion doctors"baby butchers" and criminals is protected by the FirstAmendment.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsunanimously said the producers of the material could be held liableonly if they authorized, ratified or directly threatened violence.
"If defendants threatened to commit violent acts, by workingalone or with others, then their [works] could properly support theverdict," Cricuit Judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "But if their[works] merely encouraged unrelated terrorists, then their wordsare protected by the First Amendment."
The ruling came two years after a federal jury in Portland,Ore., ordered a dozen abortion rights foes to pay damages to PlannedParenthood and four doctors who sued under federal racketeering lawand the 1994 federal law that makes it illegal to incite violenceagainst abortion doctors.
The case has been widely viewed as a test of a recent SupremeCourt ruling that said a threat must be explicit and likely tocause "imminent lawless action."
Merely a List ... Or a Direct Threat?
The anti-abortion rights activists said the posters and Web site wereprotected under the First Amendment because they were merely a listof doctors and clinics — not a threat.
Planned Parenthood and the doctors were portrayed in OldWest-style wanted posters as "baby butchers," and a Web sitecalled the "Nuremberg Files" listed the names and addresses ofabortion providers and declared them guilty of crimes againsthumanity.
During the trial, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones instructedthe jury to consider the history of violence in the anti-abortion rightsmovement, including three doctors killed after their names appearedon the lists.
One was Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was killed by a sniper in 1998at his home near Buffalo, N.Y. Slepian's name was crossed out on"The Nuremberg Files" Web site later that same day.
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