Anti-Abortionists Sued Over Picketing

A physician who operates medical clinics in Encino and Lawndale sued three anti-abortion groups Friday, seeking $3 million in damages and a court order barring those groups from picketing his clinics.

In his Los Angeles Superior Court civil suit, Dr. Morton W. Barke said the groups have been demonstrating at his clinics since last June, blocking the entrances, trespassing, using bullhorns to shout at patients and employees, and carrying placards saying abortion is murder.

Named as defendants were Pro-Life Inc., Crusade for Life, the Right to Life League of Southern California and two individuals.

Abortion clinics across the country “have been terrorized” over the last six months by bombings and threats of violence, the suit said. Roger J. Diamond, Barke’s attorney, said he knew of no direct threats against the doctor’s clinics, “but (threats) are implied from the circumstances.”

“We respect their First Amendment rights to communicate with the public,” Diamond said. “We’re primarily concerned about trespassing and their use of sound-amplifying equipment to disturb patients.”

A similar suit filed by Barke in 1972 was settled when the doctor agreed to withdraw a $3-million damage claim against anti-abortion groups in return for acceptance of a court order banning picketing at a clinic Barke operates in Inglewood, Diamond said.