Abortion Foes Try New Tactic--Tipping Off Police

Using a new tactic in their anti-abortion crusade, Operation Rescue protesters Tuesday tipped off police to an arrest warrant pending against the manager of an El Monte family planning clinic, prompting police to lead the woman away to court.

Eva Winchell, 54, who runs Clinica Eva, was escorted by officers to Rio Hondo Municipal Court where she paid a delinquent fine of $1,645 imposed Sept. 6 when she pleaded no contest to operating the clinic without a license.

Winchell then went back to the clinic and turned police on those who had accused her. She placed under citizens arrest four of the estimated 100 protesters who had gathered outside her clinic since 9 a.m., blocking her access to the front door. Police booked the four protesters, who included a 16-year-old girl, at El Monte jail.

It was the first time in Southern California and among only a handful of instances nationwide that the radical anti-abortion group has uncovered violations at a clinic and persuaded authorities to take action, Operation Rescue organizers said.

“We looked at public records and found out about Eva,” said Susan Finn, spokeswoman for the organization’s Southern California chapter based in Orange County. “If we find information, we will use it to save the lives of children.”

A pro-choice leader who observed the demonstration, however, called the tactic “sneaky” and said it is an indication that the anti-abortion activists are losing support.

“If these people are so interested in upholding the law, they wouldn’t be engaged in illegal activities,” said Julie Schollenberger, coordinator of the Clinic Defense Alliance of Los Angeles. Referring to the arrest of the 16-year-old, she said: “They’re even having children engage in criminal behavior.”

The district attorney’s office filed a misdemeanor charge against Winchell on June 28 after county health officials found that the clinic was offering pregnancy testing, abortions and birth control under the name of Clinica Eva without a permit.

As part of her sentence, she was placed on one year’s probation, fined $1,645 and ordered not to operate the clinic until she obtained a permit. When she failed to show up for the Dec. 7 court date, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Winchell, whose corporation, WIN Management, has operated the clinic for six years in a Valley Boulevard mini-mall, said she had simply forgotten to pay the fine before the deadline.

She contended that the penalty was unfair, however, because the facility is a doctor’s office--not a clinic--and therefore does not need a permit from the county Department of Health Services.

“It’s a question of semantics,” said Winchell, who has renamed her clinic Family Planning El Monte since her run-in with county authorities. “We used the term ‘clinic’ for advertising purposes only. We’re licensed as a doctor’s office.”

However, she refused to reveal the name of the doctor she said practices in the clinic, citing fear of protesters’ retaliation against the physician.

County officials maintain that Winchell needs a license. In addition, officials for the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance said Winchell applied last month for a fictitious-name license that would have allowed her to operate as a clinic. But her application was denied because she did not have a county health department permit, said Cindy Rogalski, an assistant in the board’s Sacramento headquarters.

Marvin Brandon, program manager for the county Department of Health Services, said she has never applied for one.

Winchell vowed to continue to offer abortions at the clinic, but Brandon said she would be in violation of the court order if she does so.