The Man Who Perfected Online Threats Against Abortion Providers Just Died [View all]

[KamaAina]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/05/neal_horsley_of_nuremberg_files_died_true_threats_case_reconsidered_by_supreme.html

Neal Horsley died last month at the age of 70. You may not recognize his name, but chances are you’ve heard of how he terrorized abortion providers and made them fear for their lives. His tactics, still in effect today, continue to threaten abortion providers across the country.

Horsley was the anti-abortion extremist responsible for assembling the infamous “Nuremberg Files” website. The website was ultimately the subject of a lengthy legal battle testing the line between free speech and a true threat, a legal boundary the Supreme Court is currently reconsidering.

Horsley’s website, created in 1997, listed roughly 200, as the website called them, “abortionists.” These abortion providers were listed in three different fonts, as described by the site’s legend: “Black font (working); Greyed-out Name (wounded); Strikethrough (fatality).” In addition to this list, the website included the abortion providers’ personal information, such as their home addresses, phone numbers, and photographs.

The website, donned with blood-dripping graphics, both celebrated providers’ deaths and, with a wink and a nod, encouraged others to harm the remaining providers on the list so that more names could be crossed off.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum. End of post.