Abortion Clinic Backers Block Protesters’ Entry

An anti-abortion protest at a North Hollywood abortion clinic Friday turned into an emotional standoff and shouting match as about a dozen counterdemonstrators prevented two pastors from holding a prayer meeting inside the clinic.

The counterdemonstrators blocked the entrance to the Family Planning Medical Group clinic on Victory Boulevard as the Rev. Robert L. Hymers and the Rev. Rodney S. Brooks attempted to enter. “If you want to help people, why not set up a home for unwed mothers,” one of the blockaders shouted at the two men.

The pastors, both from the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle in downtown Los Angeles, have made the North Hollywood facility their first target among a number of Los Angeles abortion clinics they hope to shut down. Members of the church have been picketing the site for two weeks, and Hymers had announced that he would enter the clinic’s operating room Friday to “pray for the salvation of the mothers who are brutalized there.”

Attempted Entry Foiled

Hymers’ plan was foiled, however, as the men and women blocking the entrance to the clinic broke into a hurried chorus of “right to choose, right to choose” and formed a human wall that was three-people deep. They held up a sign for women coming to the clinic saying, “Welcome. You have a legal right to be here.”

The pastors, unable to penetrate the wall, waved photos of aborted fetuses in front of the counterdemonstrators. At one point Hymers grabbed the hand of a woman blocking the entrance to force her to touch a picture of a mutilated fetus.

“The right to kill babies is not a right,” Hymers shouted, dropping to his knees on the pavement outside the clinic. “I am going to pray for these people.”

In response, one of the demonstrators supporting the clinic, Diana Moser of Sherman Oaks, dropped to her knees directly in front of the pastor, folded her hands and began to pray for him. Other demonstrators mocked the pastor, laughing at his allegations that they were anti-American and mere pawns of the “abortion industry.”

Chants by Both Sides

As Moser, a nurse, and the other demonstrators supporting the right of women to use the clinic continued their chant, Hymers and Brooks countered with rounds of, “The baby’s right, the baby’s right.” Meanwhile, about 25 other anti-abortion picketers marched up and down the sidewalk in front of the clinic.

When television and newspaper cameras began to focus on the group supporting legal abortion, Hymers and Brooks held up two large posters, one showing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the other detailing the development of a fetus.

As many as seven security guards and police officers, some carrying clubs, formed a semi-circle several yards away from the standoff at the entrance. There were no arrests, however, and the officers kept their distance from the demonstrators.

“They did our job for us,” said Los Angeles police officer Rich Groller, speaking of the group blocking the entrance. “He wanted to go inside and get arrested in front of all the cameras. But they didn’t let him.”

Vowed to Continue Protest

After a standoff that lasted about 10 minutes, Hymers and Brooks moved into the parking lot and pledged to continue their abortion protest. “Since Dr. Allred has paid these people not to let me in,” Hymers said, referring to Dr. Edward C. Allred, owner of the clinic and similar clinics throughout Southern California, “I will go to his home next week. We will hold a funeral service outside his home next Thursday.”

Hymers then assured police Sgt. John Jergensen that the day’s confrontation was over. “I don’t expect to be arrested today, but you will get me at some future date.” Hymers said he hoped to be arrested so that he could attract attention to his cause in the same fashion that King publicized his civil rights struggles.

Moser and others from the group supporting the clinic said that they had assembled Friday merely to offer support to women who had appointments there. They said the barricade was formed spontaneously and that they had not been paid by the clinic to obstruct Hymers’ plans.

“Our main focus has been to give emotional and physical support to the women who have had to pass through the lines,” said Joyce Wolfe, a member of the San Fernando Valley Rape Crisis Service. “Women have been chased and harassed. Some of them aren’t even here to terminate pregnancies. This clinic offers other services.”

“Martin Luther King would turn over in his grave if he saw these people,” Moser said.