Orange County Activists, Pro and Con, Mark Abortion Right’s 12th Anniversary

The 12th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that women have a constitutional right to abortion was marked by peaceful demonstrations throughout Orange County Tuesday as pro-choice and anti-abortion groups gathered for separate rallies in Westminster, Santa Ana and Buena Park.

A pro-choice candlelight vigil at the Santa Ana Civic Center Plaza was the culmination of the anniversary events. Cupping candles with foil and paper to keep them lit, about 150 pro-choice demonstrators circled the civic center at dusk, before stopping at the plaza to hear religious and family-planning officials speak in favor of the right to abortion.

With an image of flickering candles and the words “Never Again” projected on the side of the state building behind her, Gail Reuters, of the South Coast National Organization for Women, handed the marchers white roses, candles and armbands to honor women who have died from illegal abortions.

“I feel very strongly about the issue that women have to be able to control their own lives if they want to bring up children who can grow up in the right time and place,” she said. “It’s not a religious issue, it’s really not. It’s an issue of choice, an issue of people needing to make their own responsible decisions.”

Rabbi Mark Miller, of Temple Bat Yahm, Newport Beach, echoed that sentiment in his speech before the cheering crowd.

“The right of individual conscience must always be maintained,” he said. “The state must not intervene in the conflict of religious beliefs.”

Throughout the rally, a small number of anti-abortionists attempted to drown out the speakers with their own views, but they were largely ignored.

“Shame on you! You need to give your life to Jesus!” yelled Frank Guzzetta, 24, a self-described religious zealot who said he lives in north Orange County. Another man, who identified himself as Ruben Israel, shouted, “Shame on you! You women should be at home serving your husbands.”

Earlier in the day, about 100 anti-abortion demonstrators picketed the West Orange County Municipal Court in Westminster in support of two men, who are charged with misdemeanor trespassing at a Cypress Family Planning Assn. medical clinic last March. The two are Edward Allen of Santa Ana and Ralph Buglione of Garden Grove.

“We’re here to support them and to stand up for the unborn,” said Bev Cielnicky, president of Crusade for Life. “Our goal is to turn (the Supreme Court decision) around. We want to elect legislators who are pro-life, and who will pass a pro-life amendment.”

Allen and Buglione were arrested March 28 after they refused to leave the clinic at 9461 Grindlay St. and the staff called police.

Kenneth Mick, attorney for Buglione, said his client asked the clinic receptionist if he could speak with Dr. Edward C. Allred, owner of Family Planning Assn. Medical Group in Los Angeles and Orange County, but was refused.

“He was insistent,” Mick said of Buglione. “He said, ‘We’ll wait.’ They said, ‘If you don’t leave, we’ll call the police,’ and he said, ‘We’ll wait.’ ” Paul Teyssier, attorney for Allred, said his client was not in the clinic at the time of the incident.

Buglione and Allen have pleaded not guilty. Allen, who was Santa Ana police chief from 1955 to 1972 and is a former FBI agent, said he was arrested for trespassing at a Santa Ana abortion clinic in 1978 and 1979, but the charges were dropped both times.

Allen’s attorney, Robert Sassone, said Allen may be excluded from the trial because he insists on wearing the anti-abortion button he has worn throughout court appearances. Judge Kathleen O’Leary on Tuesday granted a motion ordering anyone attending the court sessions, including the defendants, to not carry or wear anything showing political position regarding abortion.

Outside the courthouse, the demonstrators voiced more concern over the 12-year-old Supreme Court decision than the trial in progress.

Earl Edwards, 63, of Laguna Hills Leisure World, said “The law is simply what a group of men make at a certain time . . . This (abortion decision) is a bad law. I’m here for life.”

Jill Marie Cates, 24, of Laguna Hills, said, “people just need to be educated” about abortion. “I believe if the public did realize these facts, and if they saw films or pictures of abortions, it would be illegal,” she said. She added that she had heard some of the aborted are “kept alive and used in experiments.”

About 10 pro-choice activists gathered at noon at the Buena Park office of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) to deliver a letter asking him to support an FBI investigation of the 30 attacks on abortion clinics in the United State since 1982.

The group also left a box of wire coat hangers, a symbol of the unsafe techniques used before abortion was legal, outside Dornan’s office, which was closed Tuesday afternoon.

And, late in the afternoon, the Feminist Women’s Health Center of Orange County announced it has filed a Superior Court suit seeking an injunction against the Eagle’s Nest Christian Fellowship, The Life Center and 15 individuals who have been picketing the center’s Santa Ana office, where women are counseled and receive abortions.

The lawsuit said that for the past 11 months, the defendants have shown up outside the center every Saturday and have intimidated and harassed staff members, doctors, volunteers and clients of the center.

It said the pickets yell “Murderer!” and “They are selling fetuses to dog pounds!” to clients and staff members entering the center.