Authorities Gear Up for Weekend Abortion Protest

San Diego county law enforcement agencies are gearing up for a confrontation this weekend with Project Rescue, but most say they won’t know how to handle the abortion protest until it happens.

The group has said it will stage a protest Saturday, but will not disclose its location. Pro-choice advocates are encouraging stronger police tactics to prevent Project Rescue from blocking access to facilities where abortions are performed.

Three weeks ago, frustrated pro-choice advocates stood by while Escondido police watched hundreds of Project Rescue participants peacefully violate a federal court order. The order forbade them to close down the office of an Escondido doctor who performed abortions, but police made no arrests because the private practitioner, Dr. Ying Chen, did not file a complaint.

“It’s clear that Dr. Chen closed because of the blockade and patients were denied services because of the blockade,” said Betty Wheeler, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

Open Building Is Top Priority

“We expect doctors’ responses to be different from Dr. Chen’s response,” she said of the upcoming protest. “Our position with respect to arrests is that the priority is to keep the building open,” Wheeler said. “If it’s necessary to make arrests to do that, then arrests should be made. If they can keep access to the building open without doing that, then fine.”

But most San Diego County law enforcement agencies won’t say ahead of time exactly what their response will be to the demonstrators of Project Rescue, San Diego’s version of Operation Rescue.

At Operation Rescue demonstrations in Los Angeles, police at first responded with an attitude of laissez-faire. After a lambasting from pro-choice advocates, more force was used during recent protests March 23-26, and hundreds of the demonstrators were arrested.

Bob Moreau, captain of the El Cajon Police Department, commented about the two approaches: “The response depends on the events that are taking place. Both are appropriate, depending on the circumstances of the given moment. Our watch commander is given the option of doing either. If arrests are necessary, then arrests will be made. If not, and letting them sit the thing out is appropriate, then we’ll do that.”

Although their goal is not to go to jail, Operation Rescue and Project Rescue participants have consistently demonstrated a willingness to be arrested for what they say is a greater good--”rescuing” unborn children. More than 23,000 people have been arrested in protests across the United States, according to Operation Rescue figures.

“Our battle is not with the police,” Sylvia Sullivan, spokeswoman for Saturday’s protest, said Thursday. “Our main focus is to save the lives of the unborn children and help women in such desperate situations that they would have to turn to abortion. Our purpose is not to go to jail, but we’re willing to be arrested if necessary. We would just prefer them not to be as brutal as they were in Los Angeles.”

Shortly after the Los Angeles protest, the Rev. Mick McCoy, pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship church in El Cajon, said there had been an “incredible display of excessive force and brutality,” and that legs and arms had been broken during arrests. Nevertheless, he said, that brutality is “a shadow of the brutality happening to unborn children.” Instead of discouraging the protesters, he said, “it’s galvanized them. They’re going back.”

Their Own Tactics

Pro-choice forces will fight back with their own tactics, according to Ruth Rominger, acting executive director for Womancare Clinic in San Diego.

“We’re going to implement the plans we’ll use whenever (Project Rescue) makes their threat of closing a clinic in town,” Rominger said. “We’ll have law enforcement, pro-choice support, escorts and supporters at the clinic to make sure there’s pro-choice support in case they show up.

“We will have a pro-choice picket . . . at their gathering place in the morning before they move to the clinic, and follow them wherever they go. We’re not going to let (Project Rescue) intimidate our clients.”

Nevertheless, Rominger hopes police will take a strong stand in Saturday’s protest.

“I would like to see them enforce the law to protect clients’ access. . . . I’d like to see police upholding the laws as they stand,” she said.

But Carlsbad police said they do not plan any special arrangements. “We’ll handle it in the normal course of operations,” Lt. Mike Shipley said.

Space a Problem

“It’s hard to say,” he commented, what the police response will be, “without knowing what’s occurring. Certainly everyone has the right to freedom of speech, but there are codes which address (trespassing). You can picket in front of a building and you can demonstrate in front of a building, but you can’t interfere with the business, and one of the alternatives is arrest.”

However, Shipley conceded that police would be hesitant to arrest large numbers of demonstrators.

“Where are we going to put them in this county? We’ll certainly try and work out some other arrangement, but peace has to be maintained,” he said.

Lt. Bob Takeshta, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department, said that although it’s difficult to predict what the response will be, deputies will be prepared for any situation.

“Each circumstance could be uniquely different from the next. What occurred in Escondido two weeks ago could be significantly different from this coming weekend,” he said. “We have to prepare for just about everything; we can’t leave any stone unturned.”

San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson said extra help will be on hand during the demonstrations. “If the group plans a demonstration during which they plan to break the law, we will be there,” he said. “They could be cited for obstruction or trespassing, or they could be arrested and released.”

Coveting Coverage

But Lt. Dan Wolf, watch commander at the Chula Vista Police Department, said the best tactic is to just let the protesters “blow their steam.”

“We’ll let them blow their steam and get the media coverage, because that’s what they want. As long as they don’t hurt anyone or stop traffic . . . that’s been our history here,” Wolf said. He added that a strong police response only turns the protest into a media circus.

“That’s what happens when you show force. . . . We’re not willing to do that. We’re paid to keep the peace,” he said. “Our efforts are not to be used by the media as a show. If someone wants” to go inside a clinic, “then we’ll do what we have to do, but we’ll respond with as little force as possible. We’re going to be like Escondido.”

Lt. Earl Callandar of the Escondido department would not comment on preparations, except to say, “We’ll try to be prepared.”