Wanted posters labeling doctors 'baby butchers' are not protected by the 1st Amendment
• Christian Fundamentalism
An Internet Web site and "wanted" posters created by militant abortion foes were real threats to doctors and the clinics where they worked and are not protected by the 1st Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
"While advocating violence is protected" under the 1st Amendment, "threatening a person with violence is not," Judge Pamela A. Rymer wrote for the sharply divided court.
The 6-5 decision came in a closely watched case that has been seen as a test of how far courts will permit anti-abortion activists to go. The ruling is binding in California and eight other Western states. In 1999, four doctors who had been pictured on Wild West-style wanted posters that labeled them "baby butchers," along with Planned Parenthood and a clinic in Portland, Ore., won a $107-million jury verdict and an injunction against anti-abortion activists.
The injunction barred the activists from continuing to put up the posters. Also at issue in the case was a Web site called "the Nuremberg Files" that contained a list of doctors who provided abortions, including in some instances their photos, address, car license plate numbers and names of family members.
The doctors were the first to win damages and an injunction under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinics Act, which bars the use of force or threats of force to prevent access to abortion clinics.