Where: 2148 Rayburn House Office Building
When: Friday, July 17, 1998; directly after subcommittee hearing -- approximately 1 pm
Who:
"The First Amendment is not a defense against bombing, maiming and murder," said NOW president Patricia Ireland.
"Before hearing a word of testimony, I can predict that these hearing have little to do with freedom of speech or RICO -- and everything to do with abortion politics," Ireland said. "Anti-abortion forces are relentless in their drive to make abortion inaccessible if they can't make it illegal."
"A unanimous jury found the Scheidler defendants guilty of operating a violent criminal enterprise. We are not talking about speech, we are talking about violence and threats of violence -- physical assaults, acid attacks, stalking, extortion, harassment, forcible blockades and arson," said Fay Clayton, lead attorney in NOW v. Scheidler.
Ireland added, "It is ironic that these tough-on-crime Republicans want to eliminate extortion and money-laundering as crimes under RICO. Do they think these criminal acts by their friends and supporters don't count?"
NOW v. Scheidler is the first class action lawsuit brought under RICO against anti-abortion terrorists. A federal jury in Chicago found Joe Scheidler, Operation Rescue, the Pro-Life Action League and other defendants liable for creating and operating a national network of violence designed to deny women their right to abortion.
Link to this release at http://www.now.org/press/07-98/07-16-98.html
For more information about the case, see http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/scheidlr.html
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