Abortion Activists Bowl for Dollars : Protest: Advocates take to bowling alleys in new fund-raising technique. Foes oppose the move.

All Mike Westmore wanted to do Sunday was bowl a couple of games at a bowling alley in Redondo Beach. Getting caught in the cross-fire of the escalating conflict over women’s right to abortions was the furthest thing from his mind.

But get caught he did. Westmore and other bowlers first were forced to weave their way through a throng of anti-abortion picketers just to get into the South Bay Bowling Center. Once inside, he had to pass a table full of abortion rights activists who were using the center for a “Bowl-for-Choice” fund-raiser.

“I think it is kind of like a fiasco,” Westmore said of the conflict being played out at the bowling alley. “And it’s a little too graphic out there.”

“Out there” was outside the bowling alley, where about 40 anti-abortion protesters spent several hours carrying signs that purported to show aborted yet almost fully developed fetuses. Other signs read: “They Are Bowling For Abortion Here.”

The South Bay Bowling Center was one of seven bowling alleys in Los Angeles County that were the focus of the abortion rights conflict Sunday. The fund-raisers were held at them to raise money to keep abortion clinics and women’s health centers open. Organized attempts were made to thwart the events by those who oppose abortion.

The South Bay alley was the only one at which an organized protest rally was staged, and just a handful of bowlers turned up for the fund-raiser.

The idea of using bowling alleys for fund-raisers on such a politically charged issue raised the hackles of the anti-abortion activists. It also made some bowling alley managers uncomfortable.

“The pro-life community of the South Bay is outraged that people would actually raise money for the purpose of killing unborn babies through bowling,” said Monika Moreno, a spokeswoman for South Bay anti-abortion groups. “Bowling is an all-American sport, a family sport, and today it is being tainted.”

Kathy Spillar, national coordinator for the Feminist Majority, which sponsored the fund-raisers, said bowling alleys were used to allow people to socialize and have fun while raising money. She said most, if not all, of the bowling alley managers were “very supportive of us and our cause. We are bowling to defend women’s health centers against . . . blockade attempts.”

Spillar said hundreds of bowlers--and as many as 1,000 people who sponsored them through donations based on the number of pins knocked down--participated in the fund-raisers. “We expect to raise a substantial amount of money”--as much as $600 per bowler, she said.

Although South Bay Bowling Center authorized the fund-raiser, manager Jim Crawford said he was trying hard not to get dragged into the controversy. “We do not have a position on this,” he said several times, while nervously watching the protest activities.

“I am not thrilled with all the publicity and all the confrontation,” he said.