News

MILWAUKEE, May 5 (LSN) – U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa ruled in a court case against six pro-life protesters that they were guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).  However, the judge demonstrated sympathy for the pro-lifers noting that “Despite having the benefit of logic, the defendants lack the benefit of the law.” Earlier Randa had dismissed the case, ruling the FACE law unconstitutional, but a federal appeals court overturned his ruling and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.  The six men were found guilty of blockading an abortuary called the “Wisconsin Women’s Health Care Center” on Sept. 29, 1994. Noting that it was “Congress’ desire to facilitate the voluntary termination of pregnancies,” with an “Orwellian definition of reproductive services,” he ruled that “the defendants,  by admitting that their motive for obstructing the clinic was to protect pre-born babies from being killed in their mothers’ wombs, admit to a motive proscribed by the statute.”  The defendants are still to be sentenced and face a maximum sentence of six months in jail.