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NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Ellen Pansky, President, South Pasadena, CA, (213) 626-7300, epansky@panskymarkle.com

WOMEN ATTORNEYS VOW TO CONTINUE WORKING TO PROTECT WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Chicago, IL

For immediate release: FEBRUARY 27, 2003 – The Supreme Court's decision rendered yesterday in NOW v. Scheidler must not be misinterpreted as an endorsement of unlawful aggression against women seeking medical services. The majority opinion makes clear that violent and criminal acts committed against medical clinics and their patients are to be punished.  Although the federal RICO statute may not now be utilized to enjoin future violence against medical personnel and patients, the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act ("FACE") can be utilized by both government prosecutors and civil lawyers to prevent force and physical violence against patients and medical personnel entering or leaving a medical facility.

"The ruling in NOW v. Scheidler underscores the continuing importance of enforcing criminal and civil penalties against those who seek to intimidate and harm women and medical providers, and who seek to interfere with a woman's constitutional right to determine her own medical care," states Ellen A. Pansky, President of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

"NAWL pledges its support to NOW in its continuing efforts to ensure the enforcement of FACE and similar laws, and reaffirms the right of every individual's free choice in matters involving reproductive health decisions," states Zoe Sanders Nettles, President-Elect of NAWL.

Background: In NOW v. Scheidler, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) and the Hobbs Act, aimed at crushing organized crime, could not be used to punish anti-abortion protestors who engaged in a fifteen-year campaign to block clinic doors, menace doctors, patients and clinic staff, and destroy equipment, all in an effort to deny women their constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade. The Court overturned decades of case law in deciding that, even though the actions of the protestors completely deprived respondents of their ability to exercise their property rights, the RICO statute is inapplicable because the protestors did not obtain property.

The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) is a national voluntary bar association devoted to the interests of women lawyers and the promotion of women’s rights. Founded in 1899, NAWL has historically served as an educational forum and an active voice for the concerns of women in the legal profession and women internationally.