Abortion Activists Arrested in Clashes Across the U.S.

Police carried away anti-abortion demonstrators from the entrance of a medical clinic in Chicago and arrested 86 people Saturday. In Ohio, police arrested 53 people accused of blocking a clinic entrance.

In Missoula, Mont., 28 abortion foes were arrested for the same reason.

About 300 people protested outside Day Surgicenter in downtown Chicago and 48 anti-abortion activists were arrested after the doors were blocked.

At the American Women’s Medical Center on the west side, about 50 anti-abortion protesters and 250 abortion-rights advocates faced off. Thirty-eight people were arrested, including two abortion-rights supporters, police said.

They were charged with mob action and resisting arrest.

About 75 Operation Rescue members picketed the Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, Mont., and 28 were arrested. Most surrendered peacefully but some chained themselves together with bicycle locks and had to be separated with bolt cutters, police said.

About 30 abortion-rights activists escorted patients into the clinic past protesters.

Those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and criminal contempt for allegedly violating a court order last week prohibiting illegal activity during demonstrations.

Meanwhile, in Charlotte, N.C., 19 anti-abortion demonstrators were arrested. About 20 had blocked the entrance to Carolinas Women’s Clinic.

Elsewhere, about 300 demonstrators from both sides gathered at an abortion clinic in Cincinnati, but no arrests were made. Police in Cleveland said about 200 anti-abortion activists gathered at a clinic, where 53 were arrested for disorderly conduct for blocking a clinic entrance.

And in Des Moines, about 10 anti-abortion demonstrators picketed a Planned Parenthood clinic, despite drifting snow and sub-zero temperatures.