TUSTIN : Family-Planning Group Lauds Verdict

Abortion-rights activists claimed victory Wednesday after 11 people, including former Tustin City Councilman John Kelly, were convicted of disobeying police orders to disperse during an anti-abortion demonstration at a Tustin family planning clinic in April.

“We’re very pleased that the jury found them guilty on all counts. There was no question in our mind that they were breaking the law,” said Judi Larson, executive director of Doctors Family Planning Medical Group, the target of the April 13 protest. “It’s a victory for women’s rights.”

The 11 defendants, who blocked the entrance to the clinic on Irvine Boulevard, were each found guilty Tuesday on one count of failure to disperse. The jury also returned guilty verdicts for seven people who had to be forcibly removed from the protest site. They were convicted of resisting arrest.

The convictions came as Southern California Operation Rescue, which sponsored the April demonstration as part of a string of Holy Week protests, began mobilizing for another blockade this Saturday--their first in seven months.

“It’s sad that people who are trying to save unborn children are ending up in jail,” Operation Rescue spokeswoman Sue Finn said. “But the trials and possible jail time are part of Operation Rescue.”

One of the defendants, Carla Bultsma of Rancho Cucamonga, was ordered by Municipal Judge James Brooks to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court after she ignored his instructions. Bultsma, who acted as her own attorney, used “inflammatory terms” while cross-examining a witness and in her closing argument, despite repeated warnings from the judge, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christine Simmons said.

Bultsma and the other 10 defendants were among 48 arrested at the protest. Officers from Tustin, Santa Ana, Irvine and the Sheriff’s Department made the arrests at the request of Dr. William Moss, the clinic’s owner, who could not enter the building and “was picked up (by the protesters) and passed back like a Tinkertoy at one point,” Simmons said.

Former Councilman Kelly, an anti-abortion advocate, was arrested when he joined those blocking the entrance and demanded that Tustin Police Chief Douglas Franks stop the arrests. Kelly referred phone calls to his attorney Tom Goethals, who was not available for comment.

Despite the convictions, Finn said Operation Rescue did not plan to modify its tactics. “We’ve had hundreds of people found guilty over the last six months. We’re standing up against a big Goliath but everything we do turns into positives. . . . Even though we may have to spend 10 to 15 days in jail, it’s a tremendous catalyst to our work.”

But Barbara Jackson, outgoing coordinator of the North Orange County National Organization for Women, said, “Most people, even if they are opposed to abortion, do not sanction breaking the law. The jury’s verdict was a clear enunciation of that feeling. This should tell people who are opposed to abortion that they must find peaceful, legal ways to send across their message.”

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 4. The defendants face up to six months in jail fines up to $1,000, with an additional year in jail and $1,000 fine for those convicted of resisting arrest.