As is increasingly the case, there were no mass protests or demonstrations outside Chicago-area abortion clinics on Tuesday, but the relative quiet at their entrances belies the increasing levels of violence that the abortion providers say they now experience.
Since a federal clinic access law was passed in 1994, there has been a “decrease in the frequency of protests outside our facilities . . . but an increase in the level of violence,” including acid attacks and murders, said Planned Parenthood’s acting president Steve Trombley.
For that reason, Trombley and other local abortion providers say they hope a federal judge will agree to issue a nationwide injunction limiting the acts of anti-abortion protesters, and that when coupled with triple damages for extra security costs, the one-two punch would offer clinics protection against continued violence.
U.S. District Judge David Coar on Tuesday set a June 30 hearing for arguments on whether he should issue a nationwide order banning anti-abortion groups from activities such as blockading clinic entrances, threatening women who use abortion clinics or encouraging others to take such actions.
The potential for an injunction became real after a jury on Monday ruled that anti-abortion groups engaged in a nationwide conspiracy of threats and violence to close abortion clinics throughout the U.S. The class-action suit was brought in 1986 by the National Organization for Women and a clinic owner on behalf of all U.S. abortion clinics and the women who use them. The defendants were Joseph Scheidler, his Pro-Life Action League, two league employees and Operation Rescue.
An undercurrent running throughout the trial has been whether the suit has outlived its usefulness. Anti-abortion groups contend that the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances is, in itself, the nationwide injunction the plaintiffs seek. Moreover, they say, the law has dramatically decreased the protest activity outside clinics, making any more limitations on protest activity unnecessary.
A clinic violence survey report conducted last year by The Feminist Majority Foundation found that while severe violence, such as blockades, clinic invasions and bomb threats, is still reported by 25 percent of abortion clinics, the percentage of clinics experiencing no violence, harassment or intimidation doubled since 1994.
More Top Picks Msi Cyborg 17 Review
The segment of clinics under attack declined from a high of about 52 percent in 1994 to roughly 25 percent last year, the survey showed. But, the study indicated, the number of facilities reporting high levels of violence rose to more than 8 percent last year from 7.1 percent the year before.
The foundation attributes the overall decline of violence to heightened clinic security, better law enforcement, community involvement and the passage of the federal act, called FACE.
But Chicago-area providers say the act hasn’t solved their problems and are looking to an injunction to help protect them further.
“We’re hoping the injunction will give us more specific limitations on protesters,” said Lisa Shyne, executive director of Access Health Center in Downers Grove. “FACE is supposed to protect us, but we haven’t seen any relief under that law. I don’t think local authorities are aware of it, or they don’t know what to do with it.
But because of FACE, the chances “are very good” that Judge Coar will not issue the injunction against the activists, said defense attorney Thomas Brejcha. And if Coar does, said Larry Crain, a lawyer representing Operation Rescue, it will hardly be of the scope sought by the abortion clinics and their clients.
“This case is really an anachronism,” said Crain. “There hasn’t been a blockade or a rescue in this country in over five years, since the enactment of the FACE statute.”
Susan Hill, a clinic owner and plaintiff in the case, said FACE is not a useful protection for clinic owners because they have to seek a separate injunction under the law for each jurisdiction. In contrast, an injunction under the NOW case would be nationwide and not require state-by-state court orders, she said.
Anti-abortion activists explain the increase in high levels of violence at clinics as a reaction by fringe protesters who turned to activities such as arson and bombing when FACE made blockades unattractive because of steep penalties. Under FACE, a first offense under the criminal provisions carries a maximum penalty of 6 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
But Fay Clayton, the attorney representing NOW, said an injunction would not be redundant.
“The defendants have argued that ever since (the FACE) law was passed, they haven’t done any bad deeds. Well, that’s not true,” said Clayton. “We know that they turn off their own video cameras and interfere with our clients’ video cameras when they are doing their worst acts. You heard the testimony from the witness stand; women were brutalized, they were beaten, they were grabbed, they were thrown to the sidewalk.”