http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16808 DES MOINES, Iowa — Public-access station officials have told an anti-abortion activist that he won't be allowed to air footage of women entering a Planned Parenthood clinic unless their faces are covered. Dave Leach's show, "The Uncle Ed Show," has run on Des Moines cable for six years. Jonathan O'Toole of Kansas City, Mo., began collecting footage for the show at the clinic yesterday. But Mediacom, which provides the public-access channel and airs the program, said it would not show the women's faces. "I have told him if he presents a tape to us tomorrow of faces visible we will not show his tape because it's a third party invasion of privacy," Mediacom spokeswoman Debora Blume said yesterday. Leach, who picketed the clinic in the early 1990s and has discussed his anti-abortion views on his show, said he would review the law but believes he wasn't violating patients' privacy. Leach is a Republican state House candidate. "I can't imagine what purpose it (footage) would serve blocked out," Leach said. "There's certainly a whole lot more that journalists are allowed to do." Mediacom officials had earlier told The Des Moines Register that they were considering airing the footage but moving the show to later hours. The newspaper reported in yesterday's editions that Mediacom officials had said they didn't support the views expressed by the show, but its content was protected by the First Amendment. "We're bound by rules that say we can't censor or exercise control over content," Blume was quoted in yesterday's newspaper as saying. However, the Register reported today that Blume said Mediacom's attorneys had determined the tapes would violate clinic patients' privacy rights. Ben Stone, president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, said he couldn't comment on the project until he saw the show. But Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the taping violated patients' privacy. "These people are just shameless. They're shamelessly violating women's rights to privacy, medical privacy," Feldt said. "It's virtual stalking. It ought to be against the law." Feldt said Planned Parenthood would look into its public policy and legal options. A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa told the Register for yesterday's article that "patients coming to our clinic are coming for a variety of reasons." Kendall Dillon told the newspaper that abortions represent about 2% of the clinic's services. Neal Horsley, who started a Web site in March 2001 that airs clinic footage from more than 20 states, said showing the footage on public-access channels was a step toward creating a nationwide show. Horsley, who was working with Leach on the project, said Des Moines was to be the first location where video would be televised. "We're absolutely certain that it's not against the law to publish information, factually verifiable information," Horsley said. "We've been doing it for a year on the Internet. ... The fact of the matter is nobody has issued a court order or an injunction." Horsley's argument is being tested in court in Illinois, where a woman is suing three anti-abortion activists who allegedly obtained her medical records detailing complications from an abortion and published the records and her photo on an anti-abortion site. Yesterday, O'Toole and his sister, Meghan, also of Kansas City, Mo., filmed patients walking into the brick building. Some patients covered themselves with umbrellas and a few people stopped to question O'Toole and his sister, who both had video cameras. O'Toole said showing patients on TV would personalize their anti-abortion message. If people saw a friend or relative going to the clinic, "I would hope that they would encourage them to stop patronizing" it, said O'Toole, 23. Stacy Layton, 50, of Ankeny, said she came to the local clinic to protest Leach and his plans, which she called a "form of terrorism." "It's not just a chop-shop for abortion," Layton said. "They provide services for people who can't afford them." Related Abortion foes' wanted posters, Web site are 'true threats' Federal appeals court rules 6-5 in favor of doctors, clinics in Nuremberg Files case, also orders lower court to reduce $108.5 million punitive damages award. 05.17.02 Anti-abortion activists ordered to take medical records off Internet Woman’s lawsuit claims her privacy was violated after documents, photograph appeared on Web site. 08.24.01 Silencing speech only leads to violence, says creator of controversial Web site 'Mr. Horsley is a perfect example of the First Amendment run riot,' says fellow participant in First Amendment Center hate-speech panel. 03.10.99