A federal jury will examine tactics used by militant anti-abortion groups in a civil case involving a law that seeks to protect abortion providers. At issue is whether lists of doctors published by the activists are protected as free speech or whether they constitute a threat against the doctors, KOIN says. It also allows clinics to sue for unlimited damages when they or their staff have been harmed, threatened or intimidated.
Abortion opponents say neither their posters nor their Web site explicitly threaten violence.
In their view, the lawsuit is an attempt to muzzle the debate over abortion, AP says. On the other hand, it's always been the rule that the First Amendment doesn't protect true crimes that involve speech like soliciting murder. The list, which includes judges, doctors, family members and others was updated last November. Both groups split with the mainstream anti-abortion movement in 1994 over the issue of violence, AP reports. Because of the incendiary topic, local and federal law enforcement will take additional security measures during the trial, although they would not give specifics.