Martin Sheen and Abortion Clinic Arrests
Recently, several peaceful demonstrators, seated in front of an abortion clinic in Tustin during Holy Week, were convicted of misdemeanor trespassing. On. Jan. 4, Municipal Judge James Brooks sentenced the defendants to six months to one year behind bars (“Former Councilman Sentenced, Fined,” Jan. 5).
My question: How come Martin Sheen has been arrested more than 15 times for sitting and lying in front of the doors of the Federal Building (in Los Angeles) protesting U.S. aid to El Salvador and has yet to spend a single day in jail, and those convicted of misdemeanor trespassing in front of an abortion clinic are regularly sentenced to several weeks to one year in prison?
Apparently there is a place for peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience in our society--but only for certain causes.
In excess of 30,000 Americans have been arrested in Operation Rescue cases in the last few years, about three times as many as were arrested in the great civil rights movement of the 1960s.
JENNY BIONDI, Santa Monica
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