Yesterday, the Commonwealth Court issued a strong, unanimous panel opinion in Crocco v. Pennsylvania Department of Health, affirming the ruling of the Office of Open Records that the names and license numbers of abortion providers are exempt from disclosure under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law pursuant to that law’s personal security exception.
The 20-page opinion by Judge Simpson states in part:
“The record here contains substantial evidence of past physical attacks and harassment of personnel of abortion clinics. . . . Providers submitted more than 10 statements from individuals familiar with the risks involved in providing abortion services. Among the averments, there are substantiated facts regarding protests outside abortion facilities, that the facilities receive harassing calls, that staff are regularly threatened and harassed, vandalism and firebombing of facilities, and assault on volunteers and patients. . . . Several declarations and affidavits substantiate the threats faced by individuals who serve abortion facilities, whether in a patient care or in a leadership capacity. Indeed, the statistics corroborate the statements of those who observed or experienced the risks, threats posed and harm suffered based on their work with abortion providers. . . . Allowing the redaction of names, even of private individuals, is rarely permitted. . . However, given the allegations of significant harm to individuals who serve abortion providers in some capacity, application of the security exception is warranted.”
The judicial tone throughout the opinion is one of respect toward abortion providers. The Court notes pointedly: “Past incidents against abortion facilities and individual providers reflect a thankfully rare circumstance where administering a type of medical care attracts death threats.”
WLP represents nine non-hospital Pennsylvania-based abortion providers whose information and safety are at stake in this case.
“This ruling is a victory for abortion providers in Pennsylvania and beyond,” says WLP attorney Susan J. Frietsche.
In oral argument before the Commonwealth Court on June 3, Frietsche argued that the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) was correct in upholding the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s redaction of certain information from a public records request filed by an anti-abortion activist affiliated with the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. The redactions were based on a statute that allows such redactions based on personal security concerns.
The crux of our argument is that the anti-choice movement has a long history of attempting to collect personal information of people who work at healthcare facilities that provide abortion care, as well as information on patients, for nefarious purposes. Disclosing abortion providers’ names and contact information was tantamount to placing a target on their backs.
Our arguments were successful.
Today’s opinion highlights the strong, thorough evidentiary record supporting the decision including declarations of abortion providers; an affidavit testifying to the prevalence of anti-abortion harassment and violence by Drexel Law professor and WLP board member David S. Cohen; the escalation of targeted harassment of abortion providers in the last two years; and a note mailed to an abortion provider signed on behalf of the Pro-Life Action League that said, “Can you be next? If you want to get out of the abortion business, give me a call,” along with a pair of handcuffs.
In court, the anti-abortion activists’ argued they sought the personal information about abortion providers and staff to improve patient safety and dismissed evidence of harassment and harm to abortion providers as “statistical” or “anecdotal.”
In ruling in favor of the Department of Health and the intervenor abortion providers, the Court recognized the real harm and threats faced by people who work in abortion care from radical anti-abortion activists.
Crocco v. Pennsylvania Department of Health is one of several active lawsuits WLP is currently involved in to help protect doctors, staff, and patients amid a stark rise in extremist anti-abortion harassment.
Review the case history and documents here.
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