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Home Action News December 2002 Ann Arbor

December 2002 ACTION NEWS | VOL. XXI No. 3

Scheidlers Present Workshops in Ann Arbor

At the invitation of Ave Maria law students Matt Bowman and Christopher Young, Joe and Ann Scheidler and their daughter Annie Scheidler, director of the League's youth outreach, presented a sidewalk counseling seminar in Ann Arbor, MI. The October 18 seminar was co-sponsored by the pro-life clubs of both Ave Maria and St. Mary's College.

[Ann Arbor Hosts at St. Joseph Chapel]

Ann Arbor hosts during a visit to the League's St. Joseph Chapel. From left: Chris Young holding John Paul Dejak, Joe Scheidler holding Thomas Augustine Dejak, Annie Dejak, John Dejak.

John and Annie Dejak and their two sons hosted the Scheidlers and Chris Young at a dinner in their Ann Arbor home prior to the workshop. John Dejak and Annie Scheidler had served as officers of Pro-Life Loyola University Students (PLUS) while they were both students at Loyola in Chicago.

At the seminar Scheidler discussed the chapter of his book CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, on "Sidewalk Counseling." He introduced Ann and Annie, who outlined the philosophy of sidewalk counseling and effective methods of approaching abortion-bound women to offer them alternatives.

They showed the opening segment of the League's sidewalk counseling video, "No Greater Joy," to set the tone for their talk.

The audience included some students who had never been at an abortion mill, and several who regularly pray and counsel at clinics in Ann Arbor and elsewhere. The Ave Maria pro-life group has a well-organized schedule of counseling and prayer at the local abortion mill. Matt Bowman invited the audience to join the prayer groups and the Scheidlers arranged to go to the clinic after a workshop the next day.

Fifteen students from St. Mary's and Ave Maria joined the Scheidlers at the Health Clinic for Women along with Lynn Mills, long-time pro-life activist from Livonia, MI and Monica Migliorino Miller, who recently relocated to Michigan from Joliet, IL. Monica now teaches theology at St. Mary's College.

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Scheidlers Join Brejcha for Now V. Scheidler Workshop

During the annual meeting of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists at Ave Maria School of Law October 18 and 19, Joe and Ann Scheidler joined Thomas Brejcha, lead counsel in NOW v. Scheidler in a workshop on the lawsuit. The workshop was moderated by Nora O'Callaghan, former director of the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Nora now teaches at Ave Maria Law School.

Joe presented the of pro-life activities that led to the National Organization for Women filing the suit, and Brejcha discussed the legal questions involved. Brejcha explained how the suit evolved from an anti-trust suit in 1986 to a RICO suit in 1989; how the District Court in Chicago had dismissed the claims in 1991, and how NOW after losing an appeal, turned to the U. S. Supreme Court. In 1994 the Supreme Court ruled that RICO could be used against political protesters. It sent the case back for trial.

Brejcha spoke about the seven-week trial that resulted in a jury finding the defendants guilty of racketeering and extortion. He explained what issues were presented to the Court of Appeals, and to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Ann Scheidler described the impact on the jurors of emotionally charged testimony by anonymous witnesses during the trial, and the subsequent discovery of proof that several witnesses had perjured themselves.

Many of the law students had studied the NOW v. Scheidler case in their course in constitutional law.

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