News

CHICAGO, Apr 21 (LSN) – The Pro-Life Action League issued an optimistic-sounding press release yesterday in the wake of its legal setback in the racketeering case. Executive director Joseph Scheidler said, “We’re expecting a solid victory at the appellate level, if not sooner after post-trial motions are filed. Scheidler also noted that a defeat at the initial trial was expected since the “plaintiffs’ case was [so] full of lies and misstatements It was nearly impossible to sift through it all to discern the truth.” Pro-life lawyers on the case began preparing post-trial motions. They suspected an unjust ruling after presiding judge David Coar permitted pro-abortion prosecuting attorneys to refer to material about arson and murder despite initial attempts to have these references banned from the courtroom.  In the civil suit between the National Organization for Women (NOW) and two abortion mills, a US federal jury decided yesterday that Operation Rescue, the Pro-Life Action League, and their leaders were guilty of racketeering charges under a contrived application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law. Although the total award to the two abortuaries involved will total around $258,000 (US) after RICO tripling of the penalty, the class-action suit has opened the door for “damage” claims from the 1,000 abortion mills across the US. “They want to bankrupt us—there’s no question about that.” Mr. Scheidler said. Wendy Crew, a lawyer for the New Woman All Women abortion mill,—the Alabama abortuary that was bombed recently—called the judgment “delightful and thrilling.”“It’s certainly something we will study immediately to determine whether it would apply here,” she said.  The Catholic Church has spoken out against the ruling. Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George issued a statement yesterday calling the verdict “unjust.” The cardinal noted that “If the courts had been used to stop the organized sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South in the 60’s, there would have been no civil rights movement.” Moreover, Chicago’s top prelate said that the Archdiocese would consider joining an appeal of the decision. “I will continue to pray for the defendants in the case,  who are enduring tremendous adversity to uphold the principle of freedom of speech for all Americans,  he added.  From Rome, Fr. Frank Pavone, International Director of Priests For Life and an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family at Vatican City, also condemned the ruling saying, “The verdict in the NOW vs. Scheidler case is so unjust that I consider it my duty to call for a sustained, public resistance to this decision. “I have stood with these defendants in cities throughout this nation,  and am proud and honored to have cooperated in their activities, all of which have been consistent with the moral law,” said Fr. Pavone. “I will continue to do so, and to see to it that countless others do so as well.”