LAWNDALE : Planned Parenthood Clinic to Open Oct. 11

Planned Parenthood announced Wednesday that it will soon open a long-awaited clinic in the South Bay but will not offer abortions there.

A Planned Parenthood official said it was not caving in to anti-abortion groups but wanted to start with other “core services,” such as contraception counseling, before deciding whether to perform abortions at the clinic, which will open Oct. 11 on Hawthorne Boulevard.

Anti-abortion leaders called the announcement a victory in their campaign opposing Planned Parenthood’s entry into the South Bay. They vowed to continue the pressure with pickets outside the facility.

Jeff White, director of Operation Rescue of California, said his group will picket clinic workers at their homes, even if they are not performing abortions. “We fear that once they’re settled in,” White said, “they will indeed start killing children.”

Pro-choice groups also claimed victory. Deborah Blair Porter, co-coordinator of the Palos Verdes/South Bay chapter of the National Organization for Women, said the opening “shows that the anti-choice people can scream as loud as they like, and that’s all it’s going to be--a lot of screaming.”