Some push limit of buffer zone at abortion clinic
A new city ordinance mandates a 20-foot buffer zone between an abortion clinic and its protesters and has some anti-abortionists crying foul.
WEST PALM BEACH - Susan Pine normally greets patients at an abortion clinic here with a bullhorn, yelling that they should not kill their babies and handing out pamphlets with graphic photos of aborted fetuses, each with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
Employees at the Presidential Women's Center say the yelling can be heard inside the clinic, angering many patients and increasing their pulse rates and blood pressure. Sensitivity to the ongoing protests reached a new level in July when arson caused fire, smoke and water damage at the facility -- the only clinic in the county that provides abortions.
The deteriorating situation prompted city leaders to pass a law that keeps protesters at least 20 feet away from the facility and prohibits excessive noise, including Pine's bullhorn.
Protesters are challenging the ordinances in federal court. Their efforts show how the bitter abortion debate reaches every level of American politics, from the debate over nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court to the most local level -- a city ordinance that affects a single clinic.
''It has become the most political issue in our country,'' said Mona Reis, the clinic's president and founder, who has successfully challenged state laws that limit a woman's right to have an abortion. ``We're just trying to make a safe situation for women out of what was a nightmare before.''
In Florida, the abortion debate already is playing a role in the 2006 governor's race, with Republican candidates jockeying for votes from crucial conservative voters.
Tom Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, who is running for the GOP nomination, recently proposed a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion, in hopes of carving out the inside track with the voting bloc.
Gallagher's primary opponent, Attorney General Charlie Crist, is opposed to abortions, although he voted against a 24-hour waiting period for all women in 1995 when he served in the state Senate.
Often, the debates at the local level become the most dangerous.
Clinics have been trouble spots, including the shooting deaths of an abortion doctor and his escort outside a Pensacola clinic in 1994. Paul Hill was executed for the murders in September 2003.
But in West Palm Beach, Pine and other protesters insist their demonstrations are peaceful and that they have a first amendment right to share information with women going to the clinic.
''We're simply trying to give women information so they can make an informed decision, so they know the risks and the alternatives to what they're doing,'' Pine said.
A few people in the group hold video cameras outside the clinic -- a silent threat that patients' license plates will be recorded and posted publicly. On Oct. 8, the first day the ordinances went into effect, several in the group of protesters pushed the limits of the new law, forcing police officers to usher them out of the new 20-foot buffer zone surrounding the clinic.
City officials said the protests can create tension and traffic problems around the clinic, especially when Pine and others approach moving cars to try to get anti-abortion pamphlets to women.
''She'll stand here in the middle of the driveway with a bullhorn, yelling and screaming, trying to get cars to stop, and half the people are already distraught because of the procedure they might be having,'' said West Palm Beach police Officer Richard Pleasant.
Pleasant has spent Saturday mornings for the past 17 years monitoring protests at the center.
He said he has seen three women question their decision and leave after being approached by Pine.
All three soon came back to the facility.
Michael DePrimo, an attorney with the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Miami, said the buffer zone applies ''to both willing and unwilling listeners.'' The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks.
''You can't talk to anyone in the buffer zone,'' DePrimo said. ``This is a blanket prohibition, which is unlike the buffer zones held up in three cases by the federal court.''
But proponents insist that women going to the clinic deserve to have their privacy protected and should not be hassled by protesters.
''I think what it does is it creates a balance. It certainly does not in any way, shape, or form limit those that want to voice any opinion,'' Reis said. ``The fact is that it was an area that was very unsafe, a tragedy waiting to happen.''
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Posted by Editor at October 31, 2005 03:23 AM
