Publishing Doctors’ Names is a Threat
The Nuremberg Files was 1990s anti-abortion doxxing
In the 1990s, Neal Horsley, an anti-abortion activist tied to the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA), published information about abortion providers. He created a website to which he posted their home addresses, home phones, license plate numbers, and names of their spouses and children. He called it The Nuremberg Files and illustrated it with photographs of aborted fetuses. The website used extremist language about Satanism and Nazi war crime trials. Most chilling: When a doctor on the list was wounded or murdered, the doctor’s name was grayed-out or struck through.
The Nuremberg Files provided information which did not contribute to ideological debate in any substantial way and more closely resembled a murder instruction manual. Given the inflammatory language and photographs, and given the social context of real violence against abortion providers, it was a threat.
The court decided, too, that it was a threat. (Specifically: An injunction against the website, though appealed and reversed, was later reaffirmed.)
If You Want a More Legal Analysis
In a 2003 paper for a media law course, I focused on a legal debate over whether The Nuremberg Files was a “true…
