FC: Anti-abortion activist complains Paypal seized his account

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

[We've come across Neal Horsley a few times before: 
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=horsley --Declan]

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From: Neal Horsley <nhorsley@wechooselife.net>
To: declan@well.com
Subject: PayPal Seizes Contents of My Online Bank Account
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 08:32:33 -0500

Paypal, Inc. on Feb 18, 2002, seized the PayPal bank account of me, Neal 
Horsley, publisher of The Christian Gallery News Service and the founder of 
The Creator's Rights Party.  According to PayPal Account Representatives, 
the account was impounded and the funds in that account are not to be made 
available for at least 180 days (six months) from the date they were seized 
because I ran, "an ultra violent anti-abortion web site that advocated the 
murder of abortion doctors."  The following links take you to an excerpt of 
that conversation with the PayPal Customer Service Representative.

Real Audio: http://www.christiansunited.net/PayPalShutDownEdited.ram  or
Flash: http://www.resistanceradio.net/PayPalShutDownEdited.html

I have never advocated the murder or the killing of "abortion 
doctors."  The evidence proving that statement is available in the words 
written and published by me over the last fifteen years and can be 
validated by anyone taking the time to read those 
words.  http://www.christiangallery.com/catalog.htm proves that I have 
written three full length non-fiction books and hundreds of non-fiction 
articles and never has a sentence been written that advocated the killing 
of abortion doctors.  In short, PayPal seized the bank account and froze 
the funds on the basis of a false accusation.

Common sense would understand that any person who advocated the murder of 
abortion doctors would be liable for arrest and prosecution for any number 
of felony warrants.  Obviously the PayPal employees who ordered the seizure 
of my bank account knew the accusations were false because there was no 
mention that I was under indictment or under arrest for the things PayPal 
was accusing me of.

But PayPal did not have to rely on common sense.  PayPal can freeze any 
account and make that money unavailable for 180 days anytime and for any 
reason.   As PayPal officials smugly stated, "…the PayPal User Agreement 
states that PayPal, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to close an 
account at any time for any reason."

To amplify this policy, I asked the PayPal customer service representative 
whether PayPal could seize a customer's bank account simply because a 
customer was "anti-abortion."  The customer service representative said, 
"PayPal can hold a customer's funds for 180 days for any reason whatsoever."

How do you avoid PayPal seizing (PayPal calls the action "limiting") your 
online bank account for 180 days?  PayPal's Web site provides this answer: 
"You can help avoid limited account access by adhering to the User 
Agreement and only using your PayPal account to engage in lawful activity."

Clearly this answer implies that if a user engages in "lawful activity" 
they have every reason to expect their account will not be seized and their 
funds impounded for six months.  As my case proves, PayPal will impound an 
account if the activity is lawful but "anti-abortion."

In this incident, as in the situation where I was fired from my job because 
Planned Parenthood representatives threatened to cost the company millions 
of dollars in sales, I am being financially pilloried as a cautionary tale 
designed to deter others from becoming abortion abolitionists.  Even though 
I have been indicted for no crime, false accusations against me are 
designed to make it impossible for me to do business, find employment or 
the other things that are required to make a living in the United States of 
America.  Don't be an abortion abolitionist like Neal Horsley, PayPal is 
saying, or you might wake up and find that all your money has been 
frozen--frozen like an Arab terrorist gets his money frozen--and you won't 
have access to it for 180 days, if ever.

As many of you know, we are in the process of putting out the first issue 
of a new magazine called "The Abortion Abolitionist."  Anyone who does not 
understand how disconcerting it would be to have funds frozen at the very 
moment those funds were needed to launch a national magazine has never done 
business or tried to complete an important project.  The PayPal attack 
could not have come at a worst time.

Examine this story closely and you will see how Christians in the United 
States of America are being conditioned to collaborate with people 
determined to butcher God's children.  They might have their bank accounts 
seized if they don't.  Such an action opens up truly fearsome consequences 
in a nation where we all are dependent for our room and board upon services 
provided by others--like bankers and bureaucrats of other varieties.

Why do I persist in the face of such dangerous actions taken against me?  I 
know many people will scoff at my answer but the fact is I was told to see 
such actions against me as things I should rejoice about: Luke 6:22 (KJV)
22Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you 
from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, 
for the Son of man's sake.
23Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is 
great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

I confess I am having a very difficult time rejoicing about these things 
that are happening to me.  But I persist because in spite of every fear 
that my flesh, the world, and the devil conjures up, I know that God knows 
I've made all these enemies simply because I am telling the hard truth 
about what it means to live in a nation that has legalized the slaughter of 
the least of God's children, the ones that the Lord Jesus Christ identified 
with.

"As you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me," he 
said.  Today, like yesterday, and the day before, and like tomorrow, too, 
we the people will rip the Lord Jesus Christ apart here in the United 
States of America, all with the blessings of the federal government and 
with the collaboration of every one of us not presently incarcerated for 
resisting such unspeakable evil.  May God grant me the grace to keep 
speaking that truth as long as life remains in my flesh.

Obviously I need your help.

Selah.

Neal Horsley
PO Box 1081
Carrollton, Ga 30112




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