Abortion Foes Resume Wichita Protests

Police arrested 57 anti-abortion protesters Saturday when they allegedly tried to blockade a clinic and verbally abused officers, ending nearly two weeks of peace.

“The officers are taking an insurmountable amount of abuse from these people,” said police Maj. K. T. Brewer.

Protests staged by the national anti-abortion group Operation Rescue led to 2,657 arrests from July 15 to Aug. 26 at the city’s three abortion clinics.

Saturday’s arrests were at the Wichita Women’s Center, the only one of the three clinics not protected by a federal court order against the blockades.

Twenty-three of those arrested Saturday on charges of criminal trespass were repeat violators and were taken to jail, said Police Capt. Gary Johnson. The others were released. Eleven were juveniles, he said.

Protesters later moved to the Wichita Family Planning Inc. clinic, but police said no arrests were made there.

Most of Saturday’s protesters were from the Wichita area, Brewer said, adding that officers and demonstrators used to have a good working relationship.

“I guess the national people did teach Wichita something and that’s how to be rude,” Brewer said. He would not specify what protesters said to police officers.

National leaders of the protest had left town during the last week of August.

One of the demonstrators at the Wichita Women’s Center crawled forcefully into Brewer, knocking him down and bruising his knee, the officer said. Brewer said he had decided against filing an assault complaint.

In a speech Friday, Police Chief Rick Stone criticized the anti-abortion demonstrators for threatening officers with religious retribution for enforcing the law. He said that some protesters go to the same churches as some of the officers, and that they threatened to get the officers thrown out of the churches.

Stone said he was proud of his officers.

“They have been required to exercise extraordinary commitment and restraint,” the police chief said.

“The officers have no choice. They were upholding the law,” Stone added.