Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Abortion Conspiracy Trial to Jury
CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal jury began deliberations today
> in a lawsuit charging some of the nation's top
> anti-abortion leaders with waging a nationwide campaign
> of violence and extortion against clinics.
>
> ``When they prey on a woman's fears to make her give up
> her rights, that's extortion,'' attorney Fay Clayton
> told the six-member jury Wednesday in closing arguments.
> ``Return a verdict for all the women of America.''
>
> Accused in the federal racketeering lawsuit are the
> Operation Rescue organization, the Chicago-based
> Pro-Life Action League, league executive director Joseph
> Scheidler and activists Andrew Scholberg and Timothy
> Murphy.
>
> The National Organization for Women, which brought the
> suit, wants the movement banned from blockading clinics
> and other tactics designed to stop women from getting
> abortions.
>
> The lawsuit had alleged years of arsons and bombings,
> but the judge ruled that evidence was inadmissible.
>
> The judge did allow evidence of a patient whose arm was
> grabbed, a patient who was bashed with a picket sign, a
> doctor who was slammed against a van, a clinic
> administrator who was grabbed by the hair and thrown to
> the pavement outside a clinic, and several murder
> threats.
>
> A group of clinics that joined NOW in filing the suit is
> also seeking restitution for money it says was spent on
> increased security and repairing damages from violent
> demonstrations. Clinic operators say such damages could
> top $1 million.
>
> The defendants deny that they ever took part in a
> racketeering campaign.
>
> Operation Rescue attorney David Cortman argued that NOW
> has had a hard time connecting the defendants to
> specific acts of violence at clinics and ridiculed the
> allegations as ``a conspiracy by T-shirt.''
>
> He said that the acts of violence were committed by
> ``nameless, faceless people all across the country'' who
> appeared at clinic demonstrations wearing Operation
> Rescue T-shirts.
>
> The lawsuit was brought under a federal racketeering
> statute that provides for triple damages. It had churned
> through the court system for a dozen years before coming
> to trial last month.
--
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