68 Foes of Abortion Arrested at Clinic for Blocking Doors

In a second day of anti-abortion protests, 68 demonstrators were arrested Sunday when they blocked the doors of a South San Gabriel women’s clinic for more than three hours and refused to leave.

The arrests culminated a peaceful confrontation between about 100 anti-abortion demonstrators and dozens of pro-choice activists. The two sides waved placards and shouted slogans at each other under a blazing sun outside the Family Planning Associates Inc. clinic.

Deputies from four sheriff’s stations cordoned off the clinic after one of its employees formally complained of trespassers on the site.

The anti-abortion activists, who began gathering shortly after 9 a.m. and sat in doorways on three sides of the building, sang hymns and prayed. Some dispersed when ordered by deputies, but many refused to budge.

In a well-choreographed operation, groups of deputies moved in. One by one, the demonstrators rose, deputies placed plastic identification bands on their wrists and the suspects walked to waiting vans. Supporters shouted their names or cheered as the vans hauled the demonstrators away.

The protesters, members of a militant anti-abortion group called Operation Rescue, made no effort to resist arrest, in marked contrast to a larger sit-in staged on March 25 at a Los Angeles clinic. Nearly 800 people were arrested then on suspicion of trespassing and resisting arrest. Los Angeles police used a “pain-compliance hold” in some of the arrests.

Five Operation Rescue leaders are on trial in Municipal Court on trespass and conspiracy charges stemming from the March 25 blockade.

Point, Counterpoint

On Saturday, hundreds of anti-abortion protesters and pro-choice activists demonstrated outside nine abortion clinics throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties, but there were no arrests.

Most of the men and women arrested at the San Gabriel Valley clinic on Sunday were booked on suspicion of misdemeanor trespass and released, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Bill Wehner said.

In past demonstrations, Operation Rescue members refused to identify themselves as a way to press their protest.

A spokeswoman for the New York-based group, Susan Finn, claimed that the sit-in was a success because the clinic’s doors were shut. But a clinic employee, who declined to be identified, said patients were attended to despite the disruption.