117 Arrested in S.D. Abortion Demonstration

More than 100 anti-abortion protesters were arrested by police Saturday after they temporarily closed access to the office of a Hillcrest doctor who performs abortions.

Police, who had warning of the demonstration, sent more than 100 officers to surround the building that houses the Third Avenue offices of Dr. Donald G. Byrnes. By the end of the protest, 117 people associated with Project Rescue had been arrested--109 on misdemeanor charges and 8 on suspicion of felony conspiracy.

Just after anti-abortionists blocked the three entrances of the complex shortly after 8 a.m., police arrested those they identified as the protest’s leaders. Will Lehman--founder of Project Rescue, San Diego’s version of the national anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue--was among the first arrested.

Over the next two hours, protesters sang, prayed and read Scripture while police cordoned off the building around them. Around 10 a.m., several paddy wagons arrived and officers began to arrest the protesters--many of whom went limp when police confronted them--by either dragging or leading them to the vehicles.

Roughness Claimed

Three hours after the demonstration began, police had cleared the entrances to the building, but not before some protesters claimed they had been roughly treated.

Lehman, who was taken to San Diego Physicians & Surgeons Hospital, said from the hospital that he momentarily passed out after a chokehold and inhaled his vomit when he began to throw up in the police car. He said he also suffered from back and neck pain as a result of his arrest. A hospital spokeswoman said Saturday night that Lehman had been treated and released.

Mick McCoy, pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in El Cajon, said Saturday night that “We were saddened over the use of excessive force in the arrests. Pain and personal injury were inflicted upon peaceful, nonviolent citizens who were not resisting arrest.”

McCoy argued that even some of those who complied with officers’ orders were treated badly. “In fact, many that were walking as ordered continued to have pain-compliance holds used even after they were already injured,” he said. McCoy said five demonstrators went to area hospitals with wrist and arm injuries.

Defended Tactics

But police spokesman Dave Cohen defended the tactics, saying officers used “pain compliance” measures to get the blockade of anti-abortionists to move.

“You get somebody to move by applying pressure at the right spot,” he said. “It’s extremely painful, and it’s taught . . . as a pain-compliance point. There is no permanent damage but, yes, it’s painful.”

Pro-choice advocates applauded the way police handled the situation.

“We’re very pleased,” said Betty Wheeler, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation for San Diego and Imperial Counties. “Police response was very effective and very prompt. Some patients were in before (Project Rescue) arrived, the police were able to get the other patients in by 10 o’clock, and that’s what’s important. They (Project Rescue) have to chalk this up as a complete failure.”

Eve of March

The demonstration came on the eve of a march today in Washington billed as the largest demonstration ever in favor of abortion rights. Thousands of pro-choice activists, including Hollywood stars, have descended on the capital.

Saturday’s protest came after a series of larger ones in Orange and Los Angeles counties two weeks ago that climaxed March 25 with the arrests of more than 700 anti-abortion activists blockading a Los Angeles clinic. Three weeks ago Project Rescue demonstrated in front of a doctor’s office in Escondido, but police there made no arrests.

Cohen said that the vast majority of the protesters Saturday will face misdemeanor trespassing and illegal assembly charges but that eight were arrested in connection with conspiracy. Felony charges can be brought for conspiracy against anyone who urges people to break the law, Cohen said.

“We’re not in any way taking sides, but if they are keeping people from getting in, that is a violation of the law,” he said, adding that Lehman will be charged in connection with felony conspiracy for his role in the demonstration.

Willing to Go to Jail

Project Rescue participants have expressed their willingness to go to jail in their crusade to “rescue” unborn children. Operation Rescue counts about 23,000 sympathizers who have been arrested for similar actions across the country.

The number of demonstrators Saturday was significantly lower than the more than 300 that shut down the office of Dr. Ying Chen on March 18 in Escondido. Nevertheless, the protesters said they were determined to block the office for as long as they could.

“We always could use more, but we’re thankful for the ones who are here,” said Sylvia Sullivan, spokeswoman for Saturday’s protest. “It only takes a few to block the door,” she said shortly before her arrest.

From inside his office, Donald Byrnes, who runs the O-B Medical Group at 3330 Third Ave., said that to him, the protest was “incredible.”

Middle-Aged Men

“Most of the pro-life people happen to be middle-aged men who should have nothing to do with a woman’s choice,” he said. “They don’t want to take care of (the children). So what happens? The child becomes a millstone around society’s neck.”

Byrnes said that his office is not usually open on Saturdays, but within the past year he has occasionally been open. “We’re not going to be dissuaded; we’re not doing anything here that we’re ashamed of. . . . Nobody enjoys undergoing an abortion, but it’s important that women be able to have that choice,” he said.

By the time the protesters arrived at the office about 8 a.m., employees and seven patients had already entered the building, said Betty Dempsey, an administrator of the office and wife of Byrnes.

“They got here by 7:30 a.m.,” Dempsey said. “We were fully aware that this might happen.” She added that some of the 24 patients scheduled for appointments Saturday called and said they would reschedule. Not all of the patients were scheduled for abortions.

Ready for Protest

Laura Byrnes, 23, daughter of Donald Byrnes, said that her father was ready for the protesters.

“We knew all about this. They were here obviously during the week. I noticed a man in a truck who looked like he was a building inspector or something and I didn’t think anything of it, until he drove away and I saw a bumper sticker that said, ‘Abortion is murder.’ ”

“Certainly they have a right to be here. They think they are protecting the rights of children, but the same rights that allow them to be here are the same rights that allow abortion. . . . If you limit a woman’s rights to do what she wants with her body, where does it stop? Individuals are the only ones who know what’s right for them,” Laura Byrnes said.

Anti-abortionists weren’t the only ones demonstrating in front of the building Saturday. Across the street from where anti-abortionists were peacefully congregating, pro-choice advocates chanted slogans such as, “Hey, hey, ho, ho; Project Rescue has got to go,” and “No more coat hangers.”

Some Screamed

One by one, protesters were arrested, some screaming and complaining of pain.

“You are proving nothing,” one officer told a protester as he held a handful of his hair. Police repeatedly told protesters, many of whom went limp before being arrested, “Stand up and walk and it won’t hurt. The pain goes away if you stand up.”

In Byrne’s waiting room, two anti-abortionists, who had scheduled a phony abortion with Byrne, talked with patients about their decision until Dempsey ordered them out of the office. “You have no business talking to our patients,” she said.

Kathy Mullen, a Project Rescue participant, told the patients before she left, “This is a decision you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life. These are real babies.”

Outside the office, Mullen, a single mother, said that the women weren’t given options they need to be able to make a reasonable decision.

“They need to be told what they’re doing. Five to 10 years from now, they’ll suffer from post-abortion depression,” she said. “I’ve been on both sides. I’ve been told I couldn’t have a child. ‘How would I take care of him?’ they said. But I have been able to. So it’s postponed my life a little; I just don’t believe there’s such a thing as an unwanted child.”