When Erika Schanzenbach was harassed and stalked by abortion clinic “escorts” as she peacefully advocated for life outside a Bristol, Tennessee, abortion facility, she sought help by seeking orders of protection against those who attacked her. On May 12, 2021, Thomas More Society attorneys filed a reply brief in response to the opposition filed by the worst of the accused abusers, Alethea Skeen.

Schanzenbach is appealing to the Tennessee Court of Appeals after a lower court refused to provide protection from the obscene harassment, stalking, and harmful assault perpetrated against her by abortion zealot Ms. Skeen and others.

The brief, submitted to the Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, responds to Skeen’s argument that her conduct was entirely protected by the First Amendment and that she did not actually engage in unconsented contact with Schanzenbach.

Skeen indicated to the court that her attacks against Schanzenbach were justifiable because the pro-life advocate’s signs “could be offensive and disturbing to patients of the clinic.” But the brief argues that there is no right to harass someone simply because some might consider their speech offensive. And the evidentiary record shows numerous incidents in which Skeen engaged in verbal and physical abuse against Schanzenbach, none of which is protected by the First Amendment.

The harassment and abuse for which Schanzenbach seeks redress occurred repeatedly outside the Bristol Regional Women’s Center abortion facility, where she serves as a peaceful pro-life advocate offering information on life affirming alternatives to abortion.

Skeen described her own conduct as: “repeatedly tell[ing] Ms. Schanzenbach to stop yelling at the patients, stop bothering the patients, and to go home.”

But an abundance of video and other evidence refute Skeen’s side of the story. Rather, the evidence shows that Alethea repeatedly touched Erika’s hands and arms, blew into her ear, followed her back to her vehicle 500 feet away from the clinic, shadowed her step for step outside the clinic, and more.

“One of the illegal incidents perpetuated by Skeen occurred when she – unbelievably – licked Erika’s arm,” explained Thomas More Society Counsel Michael McHale. “It’s gross, unsanitary, and unquestionably harassing behavior. And that doesn’t include blaring damaging noise at her face and ears and making numerous other repeated unconsented and invasive physical contacts with Erika despite Erika’s emphatic requests that she stop.”

“Stalking is a crime in the state of Tennessee and the law plainly states that any victim of stalking can obtain a protection order against the perpetrator, regardless of the relationship between the parties,” stated McHale. “Sullivan County Chancery Court incredibly found that this case was simply like two opposing fan bases that are equally passionate about their teams, and thus it denied a protection order. We are trusting that the Court of Appeals will see that Alethea’s conduct strayed far beyond the realm of passionate advocacy and morphed into blatant verbal and physical harassment against Schanzenbach, which justifies granting a protection order.”

The reply brief is the final brief submitted in the Skeen case. But Schanzenbach also has three more cases pending in the Tennessee Court of Appeals also seeking protection orders against three additional escorts who engaged in similar behavior. The briefing in those cases will be completed later this summer, and there will be one consolidated oral argument for all four cases at some point in the months thereafter.

Read the brief filed May 13, 2021, by Thomas More Society attorneys with the Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville, on behalf of Erika Schanzenbach in Schanzenbach v. Alethea Skeen, et al. here.

Video documentation of the harassment endured by Schanzenbach is publicly available online at: https://youtu.be/ZdsJjgQeliI, https://youtu.be/3ITnPmTPzgQ, and https://youtu.be/dfUO46WFPfU.

Read more about the case here.