Thursday, March 2

RACKETEERING LAWS CAN'T BE USED
The US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used against people who protest at abortion clinics. Pro-choice groups have utilized the Hobbs Act (1946) for 20 years to intimidate protestors, essentially bankrupting them. It's been a flagrant abuse of the law and there are a lot of people who should be compensated for assets illegally seized under this misuse of the racketeering laws. That would be just.

Not that I think protesting outside abortion clinics is all that of an effective big picture strategy for dealing with the calamity of abortion on demand. (It sets the protestors up to look like lunatic fringe extremists and further positions abortion providers as "mainstream" in the eyes of society -- thus diminishing the pro-life voices and influence.) But those who feel led to protest at abortion clinics shouldn't be villanized or pauperized.

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