Posted on 08/05/2004 6:30:30 AM PDT by wagglebee
NEW ORLEANS – A man accused of running a sham abortion clinic and tricking women in order to keep them from getting abortions was ordered Wednesday to disconnect his phone and stop giving advice.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against William A. Graham, who was accused of listing the business phone of his Causeway Center for Women under "Abortion Services" and making misleading statements aimed at delaying women until it was too late for them to get legal abortions.
Among other accusations, the lawsuit brought by an abortion rights organization alleges trademark infringement because Graham lists his phone number directly below the listing for the similarly named Causeway Medical Clinic, which has provided abortion services since 1978.
"I still don't see that we've done anything wrong," said Graham, who earns his living through a tax preparation service but makes no income from Causeway Center for Women.
Graham, who represented himself at the hearing, referred to abortion as "a very controversial procedure."
"It's not a matter of whether we're for or against a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy," Graham said. "There's a lot of orchestration going on with those with an agenda."
Suzanne Novak, attorney for Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit, said the judge's ruling would set a precedent for similar situations in which abortion opponents mislead women.
The lawsuit accused Graham of pretending to refer women to abortion providers at bargain prices, then telling them their appointments had been postponed. Louisiana law allows abortions only during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
One plaintiff said Graham told her that if an abortion were "performed too early, it could be harmful to her health," according to the lawsuit.
No date was set for a hearing on whether the judge should make the injunction permanent.
>>When you have to lie and mislead, the cause can't be that righteous.
If he's so proud of his stance, let him say it openly.
So when the Gestapo came in and asked where the Jews were, Christians and others who hid them should have just told them the exact location? After all, no need to lie, since their cause was just.
Sorry, it was your brilliant comparision (this fellow versus the Underground Railroad operators/Protectors of Jews during WWII) that I was lauding. Horatio just failed to understand it.
Yawn. You're making my point.
They didn't lie to the people who came to them for help.
These women came to him for help, and he lied to them. He misled them. He's a lying scumbag, and possibly even a crook as well. Fraud is, after all, a crime.
Does the Rule of Law only apply to Democrats? I apply it to Republicans as well.
Thanks for *your* help!
I was merely making a comparison.......many businesses around here include Valley Forge in the name; just as I am sure that many businesses are named after the Causeway. It would seem that this is the only 'similarity'; Mr. Graham's establishment shared the word Causeway.....and that's where the similarity ends. They level a nebulous charge of 'trademark infringement.'
Does the Rule of Law only apply to Democrats? I apply it to Republicans as well.
This statement is positively hilarious.........since when did rule of law ever apply to Democrats?
Sounds like the perfect description for Planned Parenthood.
I don't know what you're talking about. What is all that stuff about Lake Pontchartrain?
"What I see are charges from an attorney for the 'Center for Reproductive Rights'."
And where's the "Reproduction" in abortion?
'New Orleans Center for Women' and the 'New Orleans Medical Clinic'........
...do you see 'trademark infringement here?
No, because no reasonable person would confuse the two.
However, it seems very plausible that he chose his name to confuse people into thinking they were calling the long-existing abortion clinic when they were actually calling him.
That's a decision for a jury, but it would fit his pattern of lies.
Similarly named?.........as I stated before, the so-called similarity is the sharing of the name of a geographical area near New Orleans.
It seems that this abortion rights group is alleging trademark infringement based on this.......which is very, very thin.
I suppose they believe that all other businesses in that area with 'Causeway' in the name are guilty of trademark infringement.
Yeah, just like those lying A-holes who hid Jews during the Holocaust. I mean, if they doing something to be proud of, what's with all the cloak-and-dagger stuff?
< /sarcasm >
I suppose your post 50 can be construed as 'misleading' or 'lying' by Suzanne Novak and her pals.
I still don't understand why you are directing this stuff to me.
Well stuart, because it appears to me that all I'm hearing for the moment are a bunch of trumped up charges, and I see plenty of deception coming from the abortionists side.
Sometimes businesses sue other businesses merely to keep them from hurting the bottom line. I'll bet that these 'abortion rights groups' have pretty deep pockets........deeper than Mr. Graham.
They don't have to prove anything........they'll outspend him in the courts until he's broke. I would guess that is precisely the 'precedent' hoped for in the article.
Simple, Mr. Graham. You were cutting into their blood profits.
OK, no problem, I just couldn't connect any of your comments to any of mine.
I suspect that Suzanne will tell you that she and her friends have a lock on the 'truth' about abortion, and any person with viewpoints counter to theirs is guilty of 'lying' and 'misleading'........at which time the another lawsuit is to be filed, I'm sure.
OK.
...it's another method used by the left; bring your problem to the local liberal judge and he'll fix you up right nice.
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