All Eyes on NOW v. Scheidler: First Monday Marks Key Supreme Court Term for Abortion Rights

October 4, 2002

"The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this term in NOW v. Scheidler, a case that won the first-ever nationwide injunction against anti-abortion violence," said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy. NOW filed the suit to protect women entering abortion clinics from violence coordinated and approved by the Pro-Life Action Network, its leader Joe Scheidler, Operation Rescue and others. The Court will review the district court's issuance of an injunction forbidding Scheidler and the other defendants from further violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

"The question is whether women and clinics victimized by the defendants' violence can be protected from future crimes, and not merely compensated for their losses after the damage is done," said Gandy. "Operation Rescue and Scheidler are arguing that, even though the jury found an extensive pattern of racketeering activity, their victims can't ask a court to say 'No more. You may not commit any more of these crimes.'"

"Despite a deluge of inaccurate news reports and false claims by the defendants, NOW v. Scheidler is only about whether courts are permitted to prohibit violence and in no way seeks to limit peaceful protest on any issue," Gandy said. "This lawsuit is about the coordinated use of fear, force and violence aimed at the clinics and the women who use them. It is not about lawful speech—which is why the Supreme Court declined to hear the First Amendment issue raised by Scheidler. Violence is not free speech, as the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted in its October 2001 decision."

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