What’s in Name? Enough to Protect, MIA Chief Says : Organizations: The original Operation Rescue, formed in 1981 to resolve the status of missing U.S. servicemen, wants the anti-abortion group to find something else to call itself.

Retired Air Force Col. Jack Bailey wants folks to know about Operation Rescue--not the anti-abortion group, but another effort that adopted that name almost a decade ago.

The original Operation Rescue, founded by Bailey in 1981, works toward resolving the status of U.S. servicemen missing in action or taken prisoner during the Vietnam War.

But much of Bailey’s time and that of other group volunteers is spent answering telephone calls intended for the anti-abortion organization that organized its Orange County chapter in February, 1989. Phone numbers for the second Operation Rescue are taped to a file cabinet in the office of the first Operation Rescue to redirect confused callers.

The original group’s office has been vandalized, and mail seeking donations for the POW/MIA effort has been returned with notes saying the recipient would not give money to an anti-abortion group, Bailey said.

“It’s pretty annoying, and it has hurt us in many ways,” Bailey said. “Many of our supporters who believe it should be the woman’s right to choose thought we were the other Operation Rescue, and they disassociated themselves with us.”

Susan Finn, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group, said its leaders had no idea when they selected the name that another group was using it.

“It has become a generic name for groups of people who have the common goal of saving babies from abortion and helping women in crisis pregnancy,” Finn said.

Representatives of the two groups have met in a bid to quell the confusion, and both contacted the telephone company to ensure that operators make the distinction between the organizations.

However, in 10 telephone calls by The Times to directory assistance, every operator offered the number for the MIA/POW Operation Rescue. Callers seeking the number for the anti-abortion group, which has an Anaheim mailing address and a Cypress phone number, must ask for the group’s full name: Southern California Operation Rescue.

As a registered California corporation, the original Operation Rescue has legal rights to the name. A representative of the California secretary of state’s office said the only way to protect the name is by filing a lawsuit--a move that Bailey said he is considering.

The POW/MIA group’s name originated in 1981 when Operation Rescue sponsored a boat that rescued Vietnamese refugees afloat in the South China Sea. Bailey, who said he flew 256 combat missions in Vietnam, coordinates the group’s efforts to collect information on those still missing and to help refugees. There are an estimated 2,000 U.S. servicemen unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, according to Pentagon estimates.

Bailey wants the anti-abortion group to change its name. But Finn said that even if her group adopts a new name, the public will continue to think of it as Operation Rescue.

She added that anti-abortion activists have offered to help Bailey by sending volunteers to answer his telephones.

“Why should I have someone in my office answering phones for them?” an annoyed Bailey answered.

Finn also said her organization might consider buying the rights to the name, another option that does not appease Bailey. “The name isn’t for sale to no one for no amount,” he said. “We’re not going to give up our name, and we’re fed up with this crap.”