Federal Appeals Court Says Abortion Foes Intimidated Doctors By David Kravets Associated Press Writer Published: May 16, SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court reversed course Thursday and ruled that anti-abortion activists who created Wild West-style posters and a Web site targeting abortion doctors can be held liable because their works amounted to illegal threats, not free speech. However, the sharply divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a lower-court judge to reduce the $107 million in damages a Portland, Ore., jury awarded to four doctors who sued a dozen of the abortion foes. At issue was whether the posters and Web sites violated a 1994 federal law that makes it illegal to incite violence and threaten abortion doctors. In its 6-5 decision, the appeals court called the works a "true threat." The same court had come to an opposite decision last year. Many members of Congress and others had said if the court's original ruling had stood, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act would have been gutted.
