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GOVERNMENT & MEDICINESupreme Court strikes down use of RICO statute against anti-abortion protestorsThe decision is unlikely to revive the types of abortion clinic violence and disruptions that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s.By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. March 24/31, 2003. At first glance, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that says abortion protesters can't be held accountable under federal anti-racketeering and anti-extortion laws may look bad for physicians and their patients, but a closer look shows there's no reason to worry. Nearly two decades after a legal fight started over bombings, blockades and other disruptive tactics used by anti-abortion protesters in the 1980s and 1990s, the high court in February ruled 8-1 that protesters cannot be held accountable under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as RICO, or under the Hobbs Act, a federal anti-extortion statute. The National Organization for Women and other groups had argued that Joseph Scheidler and his Pro-Life Action League, and other anti-abortion groups, crossed the line protecting free speech and should be subject to the federal laws usually aimed at organized crime activities. (The AMA and other medical groups filed a friend-of-the-court brief saying physicians and others in clinics should have legal protection from disruptions and injuries from protests that turn into criminal conduct.) NOW and others argued that the Pro-Life Action League and Operation Rescue used the same tactics in communities nationwide to block clinic entrances, destroy equipment, and harass physicians, patients and staff in an effort to stop a legal medical procedure. That, the women's organizations argued, amounted to extortion. A jury agreed and, in 1998, the court issued a nationwide injunction that protected reproductive health clinics from disruptive and sometimes violent tactics. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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