Anniversary of Court Decision Nears; Violent Acts Increase : Emotions About Abortion Intensify

Every Wednesday, rain or shine, Ophelia Nieblas goes to the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Santa Ana to protest abortion because, she said, “the Lord has called me here.”

“God’s been with me in the last three years, and He’s shown me there’s a real need here,” said the 47-year-old Fairview State Hospital food service worker who has picketed the clinic for two years. “It just bothers me that so many children are getting literally slaughtered.”

Picketing With Sign

On a recent Wednesday, Nieblas paced the sidewalk and nearby public parking lot, talking to clinic customers, shoppers, children--anyone who would listen. Sometimes other picketers join her, but when she is alone, she spends her time praying and saying the Rosary.

The small clinic at 406 S. Main St. is picketed twice a week. Nieblas and a few other protesters come on Wednesdays, but more come on Saturdays, and the increasing size and fervor of the crowds, along with a nationwide rash of violence against abortion clinics, have made the clinic and nearby businesses concerned for the safety of their clients, staff and property.

“I don’t see things getting any better; it’s getting worse,” said Robin Dietrich, the clinic’s manager. “We can’t not worry about it. It’s happening all over the country.”

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reported that in 1984 there were 24 incidents of violence nationwide against family planning clinics and offices of physicians who perform abortions. In 1983, there were only two reported incidents, and in 1982, there were three.

The bureau warned local clinics in December that a group had threatened to bomb five California abortion clinics by the end of the month, clinic directors said.

The Orange County Planned Parenthood clinic in Santa Ana was firebombed a few days before Christmas, but the damage was limited to a blackened exterior wall that cost less than $500 to repair. An Anaheim clinic hired an armed guard during the holidays, and volunteers held a continuous two-week vigil to provide security outside the Feminist Women’s Health Center, clinic directors said.

Increasing Security

In comparison to other Southern California family planning clinics, they were lucky. The clinic at the Birth Control Institute in San Diego was blown up last September, and the Family Planning Center in Los Angeles had its second-story windows shot out at Thanksgiving.

Clinics will again be stepping up security measures around Jan. 22, the 12th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

“We do know we’ll be taking extra precautions, and it will include a vigil,” said Lorraine Rothman, an administrator for the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Los Angeles and one of the local clinic’s founders. Margie Seigle, the executive director of Orange County Planned Parenthood, said the clinic installed a security alarm system after the firebombing and that normal security precautions would be in effect.

Three Orange County family planning clinics are picketed on a weekly basis, but only two actually provide abortion services. Of those two, the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Santa Ana receives the brunt of the anti-abortion protests.

“Picketers come from everywhere--Calvary Chapel, St. John’s, St. Anne’s,” Ophelia Nieblas said, adding that they are informally united but not part of an organized group. “I’d like it to get organized. As Christians we need to step out and fight for life.”

Last Wednesday, clinic volunteers kept a watchful eye on Nieblas as they waited to escort women from their cars into the clinic. The atmosphere was relatively peaceful that afternoon, and the escorts were grateful.

A large anti-abortion demonstration staged at the clinic around Mother’s Day, 1982, made it difficult for clients to enter the clinic, staff members said. Members of local women’s groups and the Unitarian Church of Orange County volunteered to act as escorts during that protest and have continued to do so as needed.

“We’ve basically had the same escorts for the last couple years. We’re going to have a meeting to honor them soon,” clinic manager Dietrich said. “One benefit of all this is it’s made us realize how much support we do have and that’s made us closer.”

‘Eye for an Eye’

Until recently, the violence nationwide had been limited almost exclusively to anti-abortionists striking out against pro-choice advocates. But on Jan. 6, the First Assembly of God church in Pensacola, Fla., was set on fire, allegedly in retaliation for the church’s anti-abortion stance. The words “an eye for an eye” were left painted on the church doors, police said.

Locally, clinic operators say they are seeing more pro-choice advocates responding angrily to the anti-abortion pickets.

At the Feminist Women’s Health Center recently, escorts watched in disbelief as a well-dressed man walked up to Nieblas and broke her picket sign in half.

“I killed a woman in Vietnam because she was against freedom. I’m giving you a break,” he yelled as he walked away. Nieblas, only slightly ruffled, brought another sign out of her car and resumed picketing.

“Within the last six months, we had two more arrests--both for trespassing,” Lorraine Rothman said. “One man came into the lobby carrying a giant cross and refused to leave. He just terrorized the people.”

At other times, she said, anti-abortion leaflets were used to jam the windshield wipers on cars and a staff member’s windshield was broken during a protest in March, 1984.

Judith Kaluzny, the clinic’s attorney, said a temporary injunction against destructive protest tactics was obtained during February, 1983. Because of the resurgence of violence, the clinic is now petitioning for a permanent injunction, she said.

A Santa Ana police spokesman said the department tries to maintain order during protests but said an officer can’t be on hand at all times.

Police Keep Peace

“For each contact we’ve had we try to instruct them to keep out of the street, keep out of the driveway and don’t stuff literature in the windows,” said Lt. Hugh Mooney, the area commander. “Our primary role is to keep the peace between the opposing sides.”

Curtis Cooper, the assistant special agent in charge of the Southern California and Arizona sector for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said his staff has been conducting “clinic vulnerability assessment” seminars for local family planning organizations in response to the growing concern about violence.

Cooper said his staff is also actively investigating the firebombing of the Santa Ana Planned Parenthood facility. He said he could not comment on the progress of the investigation but said he didn’t think that incident was connected to others in other parts of the nation, as some pro-choice groups have suggested.

“If there is a connection, it would be on a regional basis,” he said. “But a national conspiracy, no.”

Local anti-abortion groups denounce the violent attacks on clinics and maintain that they discourage that sort of behavior among their members.

‘God Squad’ Taught Rules

Karen Beard, the director of a group of the Eagle’s Nest Christian Fellowship which she calls the “God Squad,” said she asks “unrulies” not to join the group’s picketing session at the clinic.

She said she thought the growing use of violence in the anti-abortion movement was “terrible” and “ not a way for Christians to portray themselves to other people.”

Members of the “God Squad,” which numbers 50 out of the 3,000 regular fellowship members, are taught picketing rules before they begin, Beard said.

“We’ve checked out everything legally beforehand,” she said, “because we want to abide by the law.”

But even legal picketing, which requires protesters to stay on public property and not obstruct traffic, has been disruptive to the neighborhood, some local merchants say.

“I think it’s hurt our business tremendously,” said Margie Arellano, a saleswoman at the All City Barber and Beauty Supply store, next door to the clinic.

“(The picketers) are harassing everybody,” she said angrily. “People are forever complaining about the fact that they’re preaching to them before they even get out the door.”

One Saturday when pickets were particularly active, Arellano said, the shop had only one customer all day.

“Saturdays are usually one of our best days,” she said. “I’m extremely mad. It’s sickening.”