Ontario’s Court of Appeal has allowed a defamation suit to proceed against an abortion access activist, in a decision that sketches the limits of anti-SLAPP motions, a law that is meant to protect free speech against lawsuits that aim simply to overwhelm in time and expense.

The court said things might have gone differently for the activist Brooke Dietrich if she had only allegedly defamed the anti-abortion group 40 Days For Life as liars, fear-mongers and harassers of vulnerable women.