A federal court has ruled against a former pro-life congressman, Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), who sued the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBAL) for defamation that allegedly contributed to his election defeat in 2010.
Driehaus, a pro-life Democrat, sued SBAL over an ad campaign that he said cost him his job and a "loss of livelihood." The ad targeted Dreihaus's vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); SBAL equates support for the act with support for taxpayer-funded abortions. "Shame on Steve Dreihaus," read the ad. "Dreihaus voted FOR taxpayer-funded abortion."
Dreihaus, part of a group of Democrats that supported a ban on taxpayer funding of abortion yet–when this provision failed to pass–still voted in favor of the final health care reform bill, argued that, given his pro-life beliefs, the ad amounted to defamation.
But district judge Timothy Black recently ruled to dismiss the case. According to Fox News, Black's ruling stated that "associating a political candidate 'with a mainstream political position, even if false, cannot constitute defamation.'"
Black also wrote that "in the area of political campaigns, where the 'principles of free speech and truth collide most violently,' truth must be determined in the 'marketplace of ideas'–not [in] the courts."
CT examined the death of pro-life Democrats as pro-life groups led the charge to halve their numbers in the House of Representatives in 2010.
Support Our Work
Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month
