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A Notre Dame University professor’s defamation lawsuit against a student newspaper related to her abortions-rights advocacy was dismissed Monday.
Tamara Kay, professor of global affairs and sociology, was quoted in two articles written and published by The Irish Rover. Kay alleged those articles contained false statements, defamation and other inaccuracies. She also alleged that as a result of the two articles, she has been harassed, threatened and experienced damage to her residential property.
Kay filed the lawsuit against The Irish Rover in May 2023, claiming the publication published false information about her pro-abortion-rights views. The Irish Rover wrote two articles about Kay’s advocacy and views, which are contrary to the university’s Catholic teachings.
The Irish Rover filed its motion to dismiss under Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law along with its memorandum in support shortly after the lawsuit was filed.
The first article was published in October 2022 detailing how Kay shared information about access to abortion care after the U.S. Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The article describes a poster on Kay’s door that said, “This is a safe space to get help and information on all healthcare issues and access — confidentially and with care and compassion,” along with her non-Note Dame email. The article also included a photo of the door which featured the letter “J” — which, according to the student publication, is a symbol for Notre Dame professors who are willing to help students with access abortion.
The St. Joseph Superior Court found The Irish Rover did not knowingly publish anything false as to that article.
“The Court finds that the October Article reasonably accurately quoted and summarized Dr. Kay’s poster on her office door, her social media posts, and her public statements, including at the Post-Roe event,” the order granting dismissal stated.
The second article was published in March 2023 after Kay spoke during a discussion hosted by College Democrats.
The article stated Kay “post(ed) offers to procure abortion pills on her office door.” The complaint also alleged the photo of Kay used in the article is the property of the university and was used without her consent.
As with the October article, “The Court finds that the March Article accurately quoted and accurately summarized the interactions between Dr. Kay and students at the College Democrats meeting, which were largely centered on Dr. Kay’s work on abortion rights and the related issue of academic freedom at Notre Dame for students and professors,” Former Indiana Supreme Court Justice and now-Senior Judge Steven David wrote.
The court also noted that while it is unfortunate that her property was vandalized on two occasions, there isn’t any evidence that it was linked to the articles.
“While it is undisputed that The Irish Rover received information from various sources about Dr. Kay’s public speech and actions, the Court finds that there is no evidence that The Irish Rover’s intention when it published the Articles was to damage Dr. Kay’s career, nor was it malicious or reckless,” David wrote.
The court further found that The Irish Rover was never directed or ordered to do anything or write any particular word.
“Dr. Kay did not like the abortion positions of some of those affiliated with Notre Dame. Dr. Kay expressed her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. However, she cannot voluntarily put herself into the national abortion issue either on the campus of Notre Dame or in a broader, national forum, by making multiple strong statements in favor of abortion rights and access to abortion and expect that it will not become newsworthy at Notre Dame and elsewhere,” David wrote. “The Court finds that there is a reasonable basis in fact for describing Dr. Kay as ‘willing to help students access abortion,’ as providing ‘abortion assistance,’ or ‘offers abortion access to student,’ and as ‘posting offers to procure abortion pills on her office door,’ and other substantively similar statements.”
The court granted the motion to dismiss under Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law, finding that the articles published were protected and were not motivated by Ill-will or malice toward Kay.
“The Court concludes that the Articles were written not only to highlight one of the preeminent political public issues of our time — abortion rights and access — but also to bring public attention to Dr. Kay’s actions and public statements regarding this public issue, which have a bearing on the mission and identity of the most prominent Catholic university in the nation, which is also a public issue of concern to the Notre Dame community,” David wrote.
The court concluded that the alleged defamatory statements were made in the furtherance of the defendant’s right to free speech, in connection with a public issue and made with good faith and a reasonable basis in law and fact.
Responding to the court’s ruling, The Irish Rover’s editorial posted a statement to its website.
“In filing and pursuing this lawsuit over the course of the last year, Kay attempted to silence and intimidate undergraduate students at her own university for accurate reporting on her public comments. We hope that this ruling will serve to discourage such efforts to chill free speech in the future and invigorate others to courageously exercise their right to freedom of speech in pursuit of the truth,” The Irish Rover wrote in its article, “Tamara Kay v. The Irish Rover Dismissed.”
“I am pleased the court recognized and shut down Dr. Kay’s efforts to silence and intimidate undergraduate students at her own university for their accurate reporting on her public comments,” James Bopp Jr., lead counsel for The Irish Rover, said in a news release. “This is a great victory not only for the Irish Rover, but also for the First Amendment.”
Kay’s attorney declined to comment.
The case is Tamara Kay v. The Irish Rover, Inc., 71D04-2305-CT-000264.
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