A coalition of abortion protesters in Portland, Oregon, has been ordered by a jury of four men and four women to pay $107.9m (£67.4m) in damages to Planned Parenthood, the Portland Feminist Women's Health Center, and a group of doctors.
The identities of the jurors in the federal court were shielded amid tight security. The doctors had filed a civil lawsuit because of threats made against them on an internet website called “the Nuremberg Files” and by “Deadly Dozen” wanted posters containing their names and addresses (23 January, p 214). Dr James Reardon, president elect of the American Medical Association, was among those testifying for the plaintiffs.
A poster targeting St Louis doctor Robert Crist offered a $5000 reward to anyone who “successfully persuades Crist to turn from child killing…to helping and healing those in need.” Dr Crist became a plaintiff after an unknown gunman fired shots into his children's playroom in the middle of the night.
The jury found that the website and posters, although not directly threatening, constituted illegal threats of violence under federal law.
At the trial, Andrew Burnett, one of the antiabortionist defendants and a founder of the American Coalition of Life Activists, admitted under questioning about the “Deadly Dozen” poster that: “If I was an abortionist, I'd be afraid.”
Dr Elizabeth Newhall of Portland, who became one of the plaintiffs after being targeted on a “Deadly Dozen” poster that accused abortion doctors of “crimes against humanity” said, “This verdict means to me that citizens are no longer willing to tolerate the domestic terrorism that has pervaded abortion services in this country for so many years.”
Catherine Ramey, one of the defendants, compared the verdict to “asking Martin Luther King Jr to pay money to the Klu Klux Klan.” Neil Horsley, who owns the website that provides access to “the Nuremberg files” (www.christiangallery.com/atrocity), said that he planned to expand the site.
However, after the trial, Mindspring, which provided the internet space for the website, shut it down for violating “appropriate use policies.”
Plaintiff Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood said, “The jury saw the wanted posters for what they are-a hit list for terrorists.”
Maria Vullo, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, added, “It's about using tactics to intimidate so these doctors will stop performing abortions because they are afraid that, just like other doctors who have been murdered, it will happen to them…Threats are not protected speech under the First Amendment.” (See p 472.)
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Pro-life advocate outside court
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Plaintiff Dr Elizabeth Newhall