City Weighs Restriction on Protests at Public Places : Ventura: Aimed at abortion foes, ‘bubble’ law would distance demonstrators from people entering clinics and other sites.

The Ventura City Council on Monday will consider a law that would keep antiabortion protesters at a distance from people entering abortion clinics.

The proposed “bubble ordinance” would require demonstrators to stay several feet away from people entering clinics, religious institutions, schools and businesses, said Councilman Todd Collart, who is introducing the law.

“I believe there has been a growing violence at these clinics,” Collart said. “People have the right to protest, but there’s also a right of access to a particular institution, business or destination.”

Council members are scheduled only to discuss the possibility of asking the city attorney to begin drafting language for the proposed ordinance. If the majority supports Collart’s proposal, then it would be reconsidered at another public hearing.

Collart said he decided to bring up the idea because it was raised in forums during the recent City Council campaign. He advocates a distance of at least six to eight feet away.

“It’s not an abortion issue,” said Collart, who supports abortion rights. “It’s a right-of-access issue.”

Abortion-rights advocates applauded the idea, saying it would protect people from being accosted, while abortion foes said it would violate their First Amendment rights.

“They can still protest, but this is preventing people from violating one’s personal space,” said April Fernandez, director of the Planned Parenthood office in Ventura.

Fernandez said she has observed few problems involving protesters at the Planned Parenthood office but backs the law as a preventive measure.

“In principle, it’s good to have it,” Fernandez said. “It would set a precedent of having people enter clinics without people harassing them.”

But Adria Laubacher, a 67-year-old Oxnard homemaker who has demonstrated at Planned Parenthood and the Family Planning Associates Medical Group in Ventura, said the proposed law is unnecessary and would infringe on the free speech of abortion foes.

“We are strictly on the sidewalk,” Laubacher said. “We have every right to do what we’re doing. We save babies and we save mothers. We’re peaceful always.”

Clara Davis, a 55-year-old Camarillo homemaker who has participated in Operation Rescue missions, said the proposed law would hamper antiabortion activism.

Opponents of abortion at the two Ventura clinics wave picket signs, recite the rosary and distribute pamphlets and photographs of aborted fetuses, Davis said. All of those activities would be affected if the law is passed, she said.

“If you have to stand there and yell at them in order to give them information, that’s pretty ineffective,” Davis said. “They want to make us ineffective and take away our rights.”

In recent years, say both abortion-rights advocates and foes, there have been few problems concerning access at the Ventura clinics. In 1989, 17 people were arrested when 75 demonstrators blocked the Family Planning Associates clinic for five hours.

In September, 1991, the lobby window of Planned Parenthood was shattered by a small, crude explosive device.

Earlier this month, a small arson fire damaged the roof of the Family Planning Associates building.

Cities throughout Southern California have passed similar ordinances restricting picketing in residential areas, including Los Angeles County. In April, Colorado was the first state to pass a bubble ordinance.