San Francisco — A federal appeals court threw out a record $107 million verdict against anti-abortion activists Wednesday, ruling that a Web site and wanted posters branding abortion doctors "baby butchers" and criminals were protected by the First Amendment.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously said the activists could be held liable only if the material authorized or directly threatened violence.
The ruling came two years after a jury in Portland, Ore., ordered a dozen abortion foes to pay damages to Planned Parenthood and four doctors. They had sued under federal racketeering law and the 1994 federal law that makes it illegal to incite violence against abortion doctors.
The case was widely seen as a test of a recent Supreme Court ruling that said a threat must be explicit and likely to cause "imminent lawless action."
"If defendants threatened to commit violent acts, by working alone or with others, then their (works) could properly support the verdict," Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski wrote. "But if their (works) merely encouraged unrelated terrorists, then their words are protected by the First Amendment."
Planned Parenthood and the doctors were portrayed in the Old West-style wanted posters as "baby butchers," and a Web site called the "Nuremberg Files" listed names and addresses of abortion providers and declared them guilty of crimes against humanity.
Planned Parenthood said it would ask the court to reconsider its decision, or petition the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
"We are obviously disappointed with the panel's decision and firmly believe that it is wrong," said Maria Vullo, the group's attorney.
During the trial, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones instructed the jury to consider the history of violence in the anti-abortion movement, including three doctors killed after their names appeared on the lists.
One was Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was killed in 1998 at his home near Buffalo, N.Y. Slepian's name was crossed out on "The Nuremberg Files" Web site later that same day.
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