Abortion Foes Protest Curb on Picketing : March: Twenty-seven activists parade peacefully through Huntington Beach neighborhood to criticize city’s new ordinance prohibiting demonstrations outside private residences.

Twenty-seven anti-abortion activists marched peacefully through a neighborhood for several hours Saturday afternoon to protest a recently enacted city ordinance that outlaws picketing outside private residences.

The ordinance was passed by the City Council last month in response to several protests where demonstrators had picketed the home of a doctor who performs abortions.

The marchers, including men, women and children from several Orange County anti-abortion groups, paced the sidewalks of the beachfront neighborhood with banners and signs for almost two hours.

They were trailed by two unmarked police vehicles and abortion rights activists who videotaped the march.

“We’re out here to let people know that they’re taking our freedoms away and we’re not going to stand for it,” said Jacque Black, an Orange resident who participated in the march.

“When you start taking away people’s right to protest--a basic constitutional right--you’re getting into big trouble,” she added.

Dr. David Keulen, a physician who lives in the neighborhood and who has been the target of previous protests by abortion opponents, did not agree.

“Frankly, I don’t like it, and I consider it an invasion of my privacy. Basically, these people are cowards and bullies and will push as far as they can,” Keulen said.