(SACRAMENTO, CA) – The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill authored by Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) enabling the patients and employees of reproductive clinics to protect themselves by keeping their home address, telephone number, and image off the internet.

AB 2251 now awaits a vote on the Senate Floor.

“Websites are used by militant anti-abortion activists to publicize personal information about reproductive healthcare services providers and patients in order to threaten or incite violence against them,” says Evans. “This bill gives women and their physicians a powerful tool against these websites.”

AB 2251 confronts this violence by:

• Prohibiting posting online the home address, home telephone, or images of providers and patients with the intent to incite violence or make threats.
• If a threatening posting has occurred, it allows the individual to demand removal of his or her home address and home telephone number from a threatening website and others.
• Prohibiting the sale, trade or solicitation of this information online with the intent to incite violence or make threats.

“Women should never face vigilante justice for exercising their reproductive choices,” adds Evans. “The same goes for the doctors, nurses, and volunteers who help women exercise their right to choose.”

Now inoperable, the Nuremburg Files remains the most infamous example of a website used to incite violence against pro-choice Americans. In the form of Old West-style posters, it once listed the home addresses, photos, and other personal information of hundreds of abortion providers. Some of these people were subsequently murdered and many others harassed.

“Websites like the Nuremburg Files come and go,” concluded Evans. “But anyone with internet access can find the home address and telephone number for almost anyone else with the push of a button. We need this bill to keep this information from those bent on harassment or harm.”

AB 2251 has extensive support from the medical field and advocates for women. Some of its supporters include: CA Medical Association, CA Nurses Association, Kaiser Permanente, National Organization for Women of California, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. Further information is available online at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.