At another point Planned Parenthood's lawyer was asked if even The New York Times could be sued under her theory of "threats" if it simply published the names and addresses of abortionists. When Planned Parenthood's lawyer began hemming and hawing, one of the judge's interjected: "But you wouldn't take on the New York Times, would you?'
You see, the jury in this case was instructed that our pro- life clients could be guilty of 'threats" even if they had no intention of threatening anyone, so long as it was 'foreseeable" that the abortionists named in their posters would "interpret' them as threatening. That theory would make even a newspaper liable for threats lust by ipublishina Personal information.
While I cannot predict the outcome of the appeal, we here at the Association are very hopeful that for once the freedoms extended to all other political protesters will be extended to pro-lifers as well, and that the double-standard of hostility toward onlv the free speech of pro-lifers will be rejected.
Please, pray up a storm for a final victory in this case.
If we do not win this appeal, it will be a very dark day for the pro-life movement in general. The double-standard which threatens to snuff out any effective pro-life activism will have advanced into very dangerous territory indeed.
Already, across the country, pro-life activism has been chilled by the prospect of being sued for millions of dollars and even thrown in jail for 'contempt" if one publishes the 'wrong' kind of political poster against an abortionist. We cannot afford to lose this case.
A decision by the Ninth Circuit could come any day, or it could take another six months. Your prayers are crucial. Ask others to pray as well. And have every priest you know offer a Mass f =- o-ur success in this' case. --
Another Anti-Life injunction Appealed
Meanwhile,, life goes on here at the Association. We have just appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals an outrageous injunction which forces pro-life protesters to stand across a four lane hiqhway from an abortion mill run by Planned Parenthood of Rochester, where our clients' peaceful protests had been very effective at persuading women not to destroy their babies.