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Article: APPEALS COURT: ABORTION FOES' RHETORIC IS FREE SPEECH.(FRONT)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- March 29, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
In a major victory for militant abortion foes, including activist David J. Crane of Norfolk, a federal appeals court Wednesday declared that a Web site and Wild West-style ``wanted'' posters identifying abortion providers constitute free speech under the First Amendment.
In its unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco threw out a $107 million Portland, Ore., jury verdict that had found the posters and Web site to be a real threat to the doctors and the clinics where they work.
The ruling, which effectively limits the reach of a 1994 federal law designed to ...