Washington D.C., Dec 7, 2010 / 03:49 am
Outgoing congressman Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against the Susan B. Anthony List, charging that the political pro-life group’s campaign against his election deprived him of his livelihood. The group denied the charge.
The SBA List’s campaign statements against Rep. Driehaus, a self-described pro-life Democrat, claimed that he supported taxpayer-funded abortion because he voted for the national health care law.
Driehaus said the claim is false and the legislation bars any federal funding of abortion.
"A lie is a lie," Driehaus' lawyers wrote in his federal defamation lawsuit, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "The First Amendment is not and never has been an invitation to concoct falsehoods aimed at depriving a person of his livelihood."