ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled a Kansas abortion opponent must stand trial over a letter she sent to a Wichita doctor saying someone might place an explosive under the doctor’s car.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Tuesday a lower court’s decision that the letter was constitutionally protected speech. A three-judge appeals panel said the decision about whether anti-abortion activist Angel Dillard’s letter constituted a “true threat” should be left to a jury.

The Justice Department sued Dillard in 2011 for sending the letter to Dr. Mila Means, who had been training to offer abortions. At the time, no doctor was performing abortions in Wichita in the wake of Dr. George Tiller’s 2009 murder by an abortion opponent.

The court in its ruling noted Dillard’s publicized friendship with the man who killed Tiller.