Confrontation at Tustin’s Abortion Clinic

The Times article on the July 8 confrontation at the Tustin abortion clinic (July 9) contained misleading statements, such as: “Nearly 1,000 anti-abortion activists and pro-choice advocates taunted one another,” and “Overall, the Tustin demonstration was largely nonviolent, although tempers flared and a few people reported minor injuries from shoving matches.”

Of these estimated 1,000 participants, only 150 to 200 were anti-choice (it was easy enough to figure out who was on which side). The shoving did not result from flaring tempers, nor was it incidental. It resulted from Operation Rescue’s calculated strategy of trying to push the clinic defenders out of the way in order to take their place and close the clinic, and from the pro-choice group’s concerted refusal to be pushed aside.

LESLIE W. RABINE

Santa Ana