Activist on Trial for Abortion Doc 'Wanted Posters'

Is putting up "Wanted" posters with the names, photos, and address of doctors who perform abortions protected free speech, or a threat? A North Carolina court will be faced with that question when anti-abortion activist Flip Benham goes on trial today, charged with stalking and violating a new state law against targeting individuals at their homes, NPR reports. The minister and his group, Operation Save America, put up the Old West-style posters in the neighborhoods of four doctors who perform abortions.

Abortion-rights advocates say the posters are unquestionably a threat, noting that the last time such posters appeared, in the late '90s, three targeted doctors were murdered. Benham insists that the posters are merely a tool to inform the community about who is performing abortions. "If you read the writing in there, it's wanted by Christ," Benham says. "We want them to meet Jesus." (More abortion stories.)