How can the RICO Act be used against political protest groups like the pro-life movement or PETA?
Civil RICO claims have been brought against political protest groups like the pro-life movement and PETA to recover for the economic losses caused by their protest activities. In the claims against the pro-life movement, abortion clinics and doctors who perform abortions claim that the pro-life protestors block the entrances to their clinics, threatening employees and patients if they enter, sometimes breaking into the clinics and destroying medical equipment, sometimes threatening doctors with death if they continue to perform abortions, and sometimes doctors who perform abortions have been murdered by pro-life protestors. The clinics and doctors claim that the pro-life protestors engage in a pattern of extortion (with their threats), murder, and arson (if the clinics are burned down). PETA has been accused of engaging in similar activities against companies and laboratories that perform animal testing or against agricultural facilities raising animals for human consumption.
