IN BRIEF
Law allows students to opt
out of dissecting in school
SALEM —Students who object to
dissecting fetal pigs and formal
dahyde-soaked frogs can now opt
out of the assignment.
Under a new law signed by Gov.
Ted Kulongoski, Oregon joins 11
states that allow students to scrap
the scalpel and learn about anatomy
through models, interactive CD
ROMs or videos.
Among those who testified in
favor of the bill was Paula Rea
Wilson, a non-practicing physician
and mother.
“There are certainly other options
for how to learn this information,”
Wilson said. “I just think it sends
a bad message that animals are
there for us to do whatever we’d
like with them.”
Wilson, 51, said she and her
husband, also a physician, dis
cussed dissection with their 16
year-old son Sanford, who felt too
many animals were being wasted in
science class.
She said he was also concerned
that students with religious or ethi
cal objections were being required
to dissect animals.
Wilson questioned whether dis
secting an animal is any more edu
cational than the alternatives, and
added that there’s a way to dissect
animals without wasting lives.
“Certainly there are lots of ani
mals that die in our backyards all
the time, which a person can turn to
use if they want to learn about
anatomy,” Wilson said.
The new law, signed by the gov
ernor on Monday, requires school
districts to notify parents and stu
dents when animal dissection is
part of the class curriculum. Mod
els, videos or interactive CDs will be
available for those who opt out.
Kelly Peterson, who works with
the Humane Society in Oregon, said
the law protects students while
allowing them to learn about
anatomy and biology through
other means.
Peterson said she wished the law
would have been in place when she
went to high school in the Portland
area nearly 20 years ago.
“I remember wishing that anoth
er option would’ve been offered, be
cause I was worried about my
grades and I was a good student,”
Peterson said.
Anti-abortion activists say
posters not true threat
PORTLAND — Anti-abortion
activists who were ordered by a
federal jury to pay $108.5 million in
damages after creating a set of
“Wanted” posters listing the names
and addresses of a dozen doctors
are asking a federal court to revisit
the case.
The activists, who claimed the
posters were protected by the First
Amendment, want the court to re
consider the punitive damages
awarded in the case, according to
attorneys. A three-judge panel of
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Portland heard arguments on
Tuesday and is expected to rule
within the next several months.
In 2002, the 9th Circuit ruled that
the posters and an accompanying
Web site constituted an illegal
threat. But the activists claim that a
recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme
Court significantly raised the bar on
what constitutes true intimidation.
“Now you have to specifically in
tend to cause harm, rather than just
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saying something that a reasonable
person could interpret as a threat,”
said Edward White, a lawyer repre
senting the abortion foes, who were
first sued in 1995 by Planned Par
enthood and several doctors.
Maria T. Vullo, the attorney for
the doctors and Planned Parent
hood, said the anti-abortion ac
tivists have been “refiling the case
over and over again. ”
“I don’t believe that the court this
morning is accepting their efforts to
relitigate the case,” she said.
The Wild West-style poster
named 13 abortion doctors, includ
ing three in Oregon, underneath the
headline, “Wanted.” A related Web
site, titled the “Nuremberg Files,”
declared the doctors guilty of crimes
against humanity, and listed their
addresses and telephone numbers.
Four physicians, claiming
they feared for their lives, sued
under racketeering laws and a
1994 federal law that makes it
illegal to incite violence against
abortion doctors.
They pointed to Dr. Bayard Brit
ton, who was shot and killed, along
with his bodyguard, by an abortion
protester outside a Pensacola, Fla.,
abortion clinic in July 1994 after his
name appeared on a similar poster.
The state of Florida executed anti
abortion activist Paul Hill, 49, in
September 2003 for the murder of
Britton and his bodyguard.
Abortion opponents argued that
the posters were never intended as
a threat, but rather as a form of
protest. They now say that recent
Supreme Court rulings have tight
ened the definition of a threat, and
therefore the courts should throw
out the old verdict.
“If you read them, there is no
threat—eithdr implicit or explicit,”
said Portland resident Paul DeParrie,
who helped craft the “Wanted”
poster at the heart of the current
legal battle.
DeParrie was the editor in chief of
Life Advocate magazine. The
magazine’s parent company,
Advocates for Life Ministries, was
part of the American Coalition of
Life Advocates, which was one of
two anti-abortion activists sued by
the doctors.
Vullo countered that the 9th Cir
cuit court had earlier ruled the
posters were intended to threaten
the doctors.
The Associated Press
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