Judge Finds Anti-Abortion Protesters in Contempt

Likening them to “used car salesmen” who fail to deliver on their promises, a federal judge in Los Angeles found the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and 12 activists in contempt Tuesday for defying court injunctions when they blockaded medical clinics in seven California cities.

U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ordered the defendants to pay $110,000 in attorney fees to the American Civil Liberties Union and other attorneys for costs they incurred in bringing the contempt action on behalf of such groups as the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood of San Diego County.

Tashima also levied $10,000 in fines against each of the individual defendants but suspended the penalties, saying that the fines would be reimposed if they again violated court orders preventing the blockade of clinics where abortions are performed.

In unusually strong language, Tashima said it was “hypocritical” for Operation Rescue to engage in civil disobedience and then seek to avoid responsibility for its actions. To do so, he said, stripped the movement’s acts of “any moral meaning.”

“I think it’s rather ironic for an organization like Operation Rescue to claim it’s a civil disobedience movement and then to assert it can’t be held liable for its actions,” Tashima said from the bench.

“The essence of civil disobedience is to allow yourself to be punished . . . because you have allegiance to a higher authority,” the judge said. “To deny responsibility, you become nothing more than ordinary lawbreakers. . . . It is simply hypocritical and nothing more.”

Tashima then added: “Some people who have been beguiled by Operation Rescue leaders should ask themselves why are they (the leaders) denying responsibility for what they’ve done. It’s very much akin to a used car dealer--what’s advertised up front is not what they’re willing to do when the chips are down.”

The judge seemed to be referring to statements made by Operation Rescue leaders that protesters would face little more than “a mild slap on the hand” for their protest activities.

In March, Tashima issued a statewide injunction to prevent massive anti-abortion demonstrations from blockading women’s clinics throughout California. More than 1,000 protesters subsequently were arrested during the demonstrations at clinics in Los Angeles, Cypress, Long Beach, Escondido, Chico, Fresno and Oakland.

The ACLU filed suit in April seeking to have Operation Rescue held in contempt for going through with the protests.

Numerous Witnesses

During a 12-day hearing, the ACLU presented numerous witnesses who testified about demonstrations that allegedly violated Tashima’s statewide injunction.

Some witnesses said they did not visit the clinics to obtain abortions but merely to receive medical attention for pregnancy problems.

One woman, Denise Schofield, testified that she was prevented from entering a San Diego clinic where a protest was being, missing an appointment with a doctor. Schofield added that she was not there to have an abortion but to see the doctor because she feared that she was having a miscarriage or a dangerous tubal pregnancy.

The judge declined to award any damages to individuals or clinics where the demonstrations were held.

Still, Lenore Lowe, an official with Planned Parenthood in San Diego, said she was “delighted” with the decision and characterized Operation Rescue protesters as “no better than common criminals.”

ACLU attorney Carol Sobel said she thought that Tashima’s ruling would have a deterrent effect on anti-abortion protesters because they are now on notice that they could incur substantial financial penalties if they break the law.

“This is a clear signal that it will be expensive to continue this unacceptable, immoral conduct,” Sobel said.

But Cyrus Zal, Operation Rescue’s attorney, had a defiant reaction. He said Tashima’s decision will be appealed and predicted that there would be further blockades of abortion clinics.

“People should not be punished for saving lives,” Zal said.

Operation Rescue takes the position that it is rescuing lives by blockading clinics where abortions are performed.

At an earlier stage of this case, Tashima ruled that neither the group nor individuals could introduce evidence that they should be allowed to commit acts of trespass at the clinics under a defense of “necessity” of saving lives.

Tuesday, Zal reasserted that right and said, “It’s sad that Judge Tashima has thrown in his lot with the persecutors of the unborn baby.”

Regardless of the outcome of any appeals, Zal said Operation Rescue and the individuals who were found guilty of contempt would resist paying the money that they were ordered to pay Tuesday.

“I don’t believe anyone (involved with Operation Rescue) will ever pay a dollar that would go to the ACLU,” Zal said, referring to the ACLU as “baby killers.”

He said that 26 million unborn children had been killed by abortion since abortion was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.

“This far surpasses any holocaust in human history,” Zal asserted.

He predicted that the ACLU and Tashima would ultimately be prosecuted for murder under the Nuremburg principles that were used to prosecute Nazis after World War II.

Zal, who carries a Bible with him, frequently compares the situation of unborn children who may be the subject of an abortion to various victims of World War II. In his closing argument in this case, he compared aborted babies to Japanese-Americans who were put in internment camps in this country during World War II, but he added, “at least the Japanese weren’t executed.”

Tashima, 55, spent 3 1/2 years in a U.S. government relocation camp in Arizona from 1942 to 1945 with his family.

Before issuing his ruling Tuesday, the judge said: “My opinion (on abortion), which I’ve never expressed publicly, is not important. My obligation is to enforce the law.”

Among the 12 individuals found in contempt were Joseph Foreman, Operation Rescue’s national field director; Jeff White, the group’s Northern California director; Ken Tanner, former Operation Rescue director in Southern California; Randy Adler, a group leader in Southern California; Will Lehman, an Operation Rescue leader in San Diego, and Lawrence Shrank, a leader of the group’s “national holy week” activities in Southern California in March.

Others were Thomas Scanlan, a “core leader” in Sacramento; Peter Haasl, a San Joaquin Valley Operation Rescue organizer; Jeff Barnes and Paul McConnell, who participated in a Fresno blockade; Thorne Renfro, who took part in a Chico blockade, and Connie Youngkin, who participated in blockades in San Diego and Escondido. The judge said there was insufficient evidence for contempt charges against six other individuals.

Broader Dispute

Still pending before Tashima is a broader case filed by the ACLU in March asserting that Operation Rescue has violated the civil rights of all women seeking medical treatment at family planning clinics in California.

In another courtroom Tuesday, five Operation Rescue activists were on trial for conspiracy and trespassing stemming from a March 25 protest in Los Angeles.

One of the defendants, Michael McMonagle of Philadelphia, testified in Los Angeles Municipal Court that there was an agreement among the leadership of Operation Rescue as to what would be done during the demonstration, but there was not a conspiracy to break the law.

McMonagle, who is defending himself in the trial before Municipal Judge Richard A. Paez, said he told demonstrators at a rally before the protest “that any type of what is called trespass, to save a human life, is not a crime.”

McMonagle added that the decision to stage a protest at a women’s clinic in Los Angeles was not made until the night before in a hotel room by Operation Rescue leaders Randall Terry, Jeff White and himself.

McMonagle also testified that the anti-abortion demonstrators did not know that they were committing any crimes because they had not been arrested at another demonstration held on Feb. 11. He added that police at that time had established guidelines that basically held that they could demonstrate if they did not block the sidewalks.

Times staff writer Carol McGraw contributed to this article.