Some Abortion Foes Take Jail Over Probation

Reciting prayers and “God’s law,” the Southern California director of Operation Rescue and 15 of his fellow abortion foes were sentenced to jail or probation Tuesday for their roles in a mass demonstration in Los Angeles last year.

All were offered probation and community service rather than incarceration for their convictions on misdemeanor charges of blocking a public sidewalk, but many instead chose a 45-day jail term.

“The jail sentences are easier than 300 hours of community service,” explained Al Howard, a nondenominational pastor in Long Beach who directs Operation Rescue in Southern California. “Otherwise we’re tied up forever. We can’t make an agreement not to save babies,” he added, referring to probation conditions that restrict protest activities.

Howard, father of 14 children ranging in age from 2 to 31, was led away to Los Angeles County Jail after telling Municipal Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth that he would pray for her because she was committing a crime by sending the Operation Rescue demonstrators to jail “for even 30 minutes.”

“I thank you for your prayers, we all need them,” McBeth replied, telling Howard, “You’ve chosen to go to jail by saying ‘I refuse to obey the law.’ ”

Fewer than half of the 34 Operation Rescue demonstrators scheduled for sentencing Tuesday showed up in court. The remainder were given another sentencing date of Oct. 2. If they miss that, warrants will be issued for their arrests.

Altogether, more than 600 abortion opponents have been sentenced in Los Angeles County and another 400 are awaiting trials, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

The 16 sentenced Tuesday were all convicted last month of sidewalk-obstruction charges involving a March 25, 1989, demonstration at a family-planning clinic in Los Angeles. They faced maximum penalties of six months in jail and $1,000 fines.

“We’re not interested in sending these folks to jail if they’ll take probation,” said Deputy City Atty. Kjehl Johansen. “Our interest is to ensure they don’t repeat the same offense in Los Angeles. And probation is one way of ensuring that.”

Those who decided to stay out of jail were ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and placed on probation for 18 months or until they complete their service. The probation conditions bar the defendants from trespassing on the property of abortion clinics, blocking clinic doors or the path of people using clinics.

Johansen said some other judges have imposed longer probation periods and also forbidden defendants from going within 15 feet of a clinic entrance or exit. But while McBeth was more lenient in that respect, the 45-day jail terms she handed out were longer than the 30 days the city attorney’s office suggested. Given the crowded jail conditions, protesters will probably serve about 18 days of their terms.

Carrying Bibles and sometimes color photographs of fetuses they described as aborted, friends and family of those sentenced lined the courtroom benches Tuesday to offer support.

“I worked 10 years as a probation officer,” said Jeff Day of Mission Viejo, whose wife, Carol, was one of those jailed. “I made it very clear what she was getting into, and that was her choice. Yes, I worry for her.”

Longshoreman Adolfo Cardenas Jr. left behind four children and a wife to serve his jail time. But he wasn’t worried, saying God “is going to take care of them.”