Pro-Life Activists Look for Victory on Appeal

CHICAGO, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- ``We expected a defeat during this round,'' said Joseph Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, when the jury returned its verdict Friday in NOW v. Scheidler, the federal RICO suit brought against pro-life activists by the National Organization for Women and the abortion industry. ``The plaintiffs' case was full of lies and misstatements,'' said Scheidler. ``It was nearly impossible to sift through it all to discern the truth.''

In 1986 the National Organization for Women and two abortion providers brought an antitrust suit against Joseph Scheidler, the Pro-Life Action League, and others, charging ``conspiracy'' among protesters to ``restrain trade'' in abortions. Over the next several years plaintiffs dropped some defendants, added others, and added RICO (``extortion'' and ``racketeering'') charges. In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the RICO law was so broadly written that it could be used against pro-lifers or any other economically disinterested protesters. The case was returned for trial in the federal district court, where N.O.W. and the clinics claimed that ``rescues'' -- passive acts of civil disobedience -- equated with ``extortion.'' Plaintiffs tried to bolster this ``extortion'' claim with the charge that defendants also conspired to burn and bomb clinics and murder abortionists -- claims the court rejected outright before trial. Yet opposing counsel brought up arson and murder repeatedly, with impunity!

``We're expecting a solid victory at the appellate level, if not sooner after post-trial motions are filed,'' said Scheidler. Fully anticipating this verdict after so many adverse rulings on law and evidence during trial, defense lawyers already have been working on post-trial motions.

``RICO is terribly flawed, fatally vague and overbroad,'' said Tom Brejcha, defense counsel. ``Combined with use of federal or state extortion statutes against those who would engage in peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience, RICO tramples the First Amendment,'' said Brejcha, who contends that RICO's flaws are incurable, and render the statute unconstitutional.

``We have no intention of backing off from our live-saving efforts,'' said Scheidler. ``With the trial behind us, we will turn our full attention back to carrying on our pro-life mission.''

Other pro-life leaders as far away as Rome have spoken out against this travesty. Fr. Frank Pavone, International Director of Priests For Life and an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family at Vatican City, says, `` The verdict in the NOW vs. Scheidler case is so unjust that I consider it my duty to call for a sustained, public resistance to this decision. I have stood with these defendants in cities throughout this nation, and am proud and honored to have cooperated in their activities, all of which have been consistent with the moral law. I will continue to do so, and to see to it that countless others do so as well.''

SOURCE: Pro-Life Action League