WEEK AFTER WEEK in 1991 a group of protesters gathered outside the Aware Woman Center for Choice in Melbourne, Florida. The protesters were part of Rescue America, a national organization opposed to abortion. As patients walked toward the clinic, the protesters pleaded with them to change their minds about having abortions. If the patients continued toward the door, the protesters' pleas often turned to cries of anguish and finally to shouts of anger. As the doctors inside the clinic performed abortions, the protesters outside sang hymns, chanted slogans, honked car horns, whistled, and shouted through a bullhorn to disrupt the procedures.

The owner of the clinic, Patricia Windle, believed the protesters were violating the rights of the people who wanted to use the clinic, many of whom were poor. "They are trying to shut off any right to choose for poor...