ACLU attorney, law firm, abortionist, and abortion clinic face $8 million lawsuit under federal Ku Klux Klan Act conspiracy.
Paul deParrie, the anti-abortion activist who gained national attention for being declared by the court to be a "stalker" for conducting two peaceful, lawful pickets, has filed an $8 million lawsuit against those who conspired and deprived him of his First Amendment rights. DeParrie was held liable at the trial court in Multnomah County, but the Oregon Court of Appeals determined that deParrie was merely involved in free speech.
"It's about time that the billion-dollar abortion industry and their cronies in the ACLU and their huge law firms get a taste of their own medicine," said deParrie. "The filing of SLAPP* suits against anti-abortion protesters has got to stop - and I intend to do my part."
Stoel Rives LLP has been at the forefront of SLAPP suits against local activists since 1985 when they filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Advocates for Life Ministries and others for conducting lawful pickets. The firm has been involved in other similar suits as well.
Jude Hanzo, once the executive director of Portland Feminist Women's Health Center, Inc., was at the center of the 1985 lawsuit - as well as the plaintiff who accused deParrie of "stalking."
Katherine McDowell, a board member with the ACLU of Oregon, spearheaded this assault on deParrie's freedom of speech.
*A SLAPP suit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
Copyright © 1999 Culture War Associates
|