Pro-Life Protestors No Longer Racketeers     2/26/2003

“The Supreme Court has set the record straight on the time-honored American tradition of the right to protest.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Supreme Court has ruled 8-1 in favor of Joe Scheidler and pro-life protestors in NOW v. Scheidler.

“Pro-Life activists are not mobsters,” said Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America. “The Supreme Court has set the record straight on the time-honored American tradition of the right to protest.”

“It was outside a federal courtroom at a NOW press conference where I heard Patricia Ireland declare, ‘We will destroy these people… take away their homes… their cars.’ And destroy pro-life protestors they nearly did,” Rios said. “After years and years of litigation and the disgrace of being declared a racketeer, Joe Scheidler, fearless champion for the unborn, has finally been vindicated.”

CWA filed an amicus brief in the case showing it was built on a faulty claim that pro-life protesters were guilty of extortion. Federal statute defines extortion as “obtaining” property from a victim through “actual or threatened force, violence or fear.” Judge Rehnquist used similar arguments in his reasoning in the majority opinion.

Diverse groups such as Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, PETA, and individuals like Martin Sheen and Nat Hentoff have supported Scheidler. They agree that peaceful protesters should not be treated as mobsters.

For Information Contact:
Demi Bardsley
(202) 488-7000, ext. 1020
media.cwfa.org

Printer Friendly Version