Law Shielding Abortion Clinics Tentatively OKd

Three weeks before Operation Rescue plans protests at local abortion clinics, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a measure that would allow police to arrest those who disrupt “normal operations” at clinics.

Abortion rights activists hailed the action as a landmark step that would give the Los Angeles Police Department the necessary tools to protect women. Abortion opponents protested that the proposal is unconstitutional and unnecessary.

Under the measure, the Los Angeles Police Department could arrest protesters on misdemeanor charges if they intentionally act in any manner that threatens or disturbs the peace or security of a medical facility. It would also ban activities that interfere with a patient or worker at such a facility.

The LAPD would be authorized to order protesters to stay 50 feet from a clinic, its parking facilities or connecting pedestrian walkways for up to four hours at a time.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who sponsored the measure, said it would help de-escalate tensions she believes have contributed to violence against clinic workers elsewhere.

Since 1993, two doctors and two other workers at abortion clinics have been killed in the United States.

“How many people have to get killed before we do something?” Galanter asked her colleagues during council floor debate Wednesday.

The measure was approved on an 11-0 vote, but needs to win a second council vote next week to become law.

The frequency of disruptive protests at abortion clinics in Los Angeles has diminished in recent years, according to police. “It’s been about three years since we’ve had any civil disobedience,” LAPD Assistant Chief Bayan Lewis said in an interview. “I don’t remember us having to arrest anyone in a while.”

In 1989, 700 people were arrested at an Operation Rescue demonstration at a Koreatown family planning clinic. Those arrests, which resulted in charges of police brutality, arose after then-Chief Daryl F. Gates was chided by the City Council for being light-handed in dealing with previous anti-abortion demonstrations.

The proposed buffer zone would still allow peaceful protesters to exercise their 1st Amendment rights, said Marcela Howell, head of the California Abortion Rights League. In addition, the proposal “lets the clinic resume its normal operation and gives the protesters time to have a cooling-off period,” Howell said.

“We think the ordinance provides a good balance between the free speech rights of protesters and a woman’s right of access to the clinics,” she said.

A leader of Operation Rescue, a group known for its militant protest tactics, told the council that the proposal would not stop demonstrations the group plans to hold May 25-27 in Los Angeles.

Jeff White, director of Operation Rescue California, disclosed that his group plans to blockade clinics here, but he would not reveal the locations. He warned in an interview that if nonviolent protests are stifled, it would increase the chances of violence.

“When it happens (violence)--and it will happen--don’t look to blame Operation Rescue, blame the City Council for laws like this,” White said.

Attorney Anne Kindt, who represents the Right to Life League of South California and the Life Legal Defense Foundation, testified that the measure is vague enough to possibly allow police to arrest a “woman, quietly praying outside a clinic, who touched the heart of a client” with her prayers.

“Take away one group’s 1st Amendment rights and your group may be next,” the Granada Hills attorney warned.

Kindt said the 1994 federal Freedom of Access to Clinics Act, which authorizes felony penalties for those who use intimidation or physical obstruction to deter women from using abortion clinics, should be adequate to protect clinics from disruptive protests.