In a unanimous opinion Friday, a federal appeals court upheld a permanent injunction issued last March by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Stevens ordering abortion protester Regina R. Dinwiddie to stay 500 feet from any abortion clinic in the U.S., except for “legitimate personal activity” and peaceful protesting. The injunction also bans her use of an electric bullhorn to yell at patients or employees of abortion clinics.
The decision marks the first finding nationwide in a case involving a protester where the court ruled that a 1994 law protecting access to abortion clinics was legal. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) law, signed by President Clinton in May 1994, has been upheld by two other federal appeals courts.
In addition to her long-standing activism in the anti-abortion movement, Dinwiddie, of Kansas City, also threatened or intimidated Planned Parenthood employees, according to their testimony in a series of hearings before Stevens. Clinic medical director Robert Crist said that Dinwiddie warned him, “remember Dr. Gunn … This could happen to you …He is not in the world anymore,” referring to the abortion provider murdered in Pensacola, FL.
