Posted on 07/10/2007 9:23:49 AM PDT by Incorrigible
By GREG GARRISON and WILLIAM C. SINGLETON III
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Birmingham will be the focus of the national abortion debate when activists on both sides converge on the city for a week starting Saturday.
Operation Rescue/Operation Save America has been recruiting people from across the nation to meet in Birmingham July 14-22 for a week of demonstrations against abortion.
At the same time, the National Organization for Women is calling activists from across the country to Birmingham for what is being billed as "Alabama Reproductive Freedom Summer,'' a series of demonstrations aimed at countering Operation Rescue's efforts.
"We've got to stop the killing of children,'' said Flip Benham, director of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America, who will be leading the "Back to Birmingham'' campaign. "It's a call to the church. If we're going to get that problem solved, it begins with the church.''
The group has obtained permits to demonstrate at Planned Parenthood and the New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic, which was bombed by Eric Robert Rudolph in 1998, killing a security guard and severely injuring a nurse.
Benham previously led protests in Birmingham in 1994 and 1999.
The demonstrations against abortion in front of clinics haven't drawn the crowds they did before the deadly 1998 bombing.
"They are smaller in number than they were,'' said Kim Adams, president of the Greater Birmingham chapter of NOW.
Still, she said counter-demonstrators have organized events to show their support for the right to abortion.
"They're going to do what they always do _ come to clinics and try to harass people who seek services there, and pop up all over town saying hateful things about people,'' said Adams, coordinator of Alabama Reproductive Freedom Summer.
"We want to be there to show support; they're going to be open and seeing patients,'' she said. "We do take it seriously. The women that come to the clinics deserve our support. They're making a tough decision.''
An attorney for New Woman All Women Clinic wants the city to revoke the protest permit. Scott Morro, a former Birmingham police officer, said the city can do so because the Back to Birmingham campaign plans to shut down a legal business and would thus violate a federal injunction.
If the city doesn't revoke the license, Morro wants the police to enforce local and federal laws addressing demonstrations.
Morro said local and federal laws govern buffer zones — 25 feet from the facility — and noise ordinances. He said local protesters frequently violate those laws, and city police need to be diligent in enforcing them.
"I think there will be a large police presence, but I do not think they're prepared to arrest on the small violations where they don't perceive it as bothering or hampering the clinic,'' Morro said. "The clinic sees the noise level as increasing the problems with their patients, increasing their stress.''
Morro and clinic owner Diane Derzis appeared before the Birmingham City Council last week to articulate their concerns.
Morro said local protesters shout "abusive'' comments to the women entering the clinic.
Mayor Bernard Kincaid, after the council meeting, expressed some discomfort with Morro's request. "Part of what he asked for would trample, in my mind, some First Amendment rights,'' he said. "The court order limits where they might be able to protest, but he seems to want to stifle (the protest).''
Kincaid said Police Chief Annetta Nunn is aware of the protest and has prepared for it.
"I expect the police chief to handle it being mindful of First Amendment rights, being mindful of the court order and to harmonize those two things,'' the mayor said.
Benham pointed to the declining number of abortion clinics as evidence his movement has made progress.
"There's no question the pendulum is swinging,'' Benham said. "We want abortion to be pushed into a grave and buried.''
Benham said politics will be a major focus of the events in Birmingham.
"There's a division in the pro-life movement,'' he said. "Are we going to support the Republican Party?''
Benham said that if Republicans don't nominate someone solidly opposed to abortion, conservative Christians will stay home and not vote, opening the way for the Democratic nominee to win. "Then Hillary Rodham Clinton will be president,'' he predicted.
(Greg Garrison is a staff writer for The Birmingham News of Birmingham, Ala. He can be contacted at ggarrison(at)bhamnews.com.)
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Looks like it's going to be a long hot summer in Birmingham.
This doesn’t sound like a good plan/strategy:
Benham said that if Republicans don’t nominate someone solidly opposed to abortion, conservative Christians will stay home and not vote, opening the way for the Democratic nominee to win. “Then Hillary Rodham Clinton will be president,’’ he predicted.
What did we do to deserve this?
I don’t think he is putting that forth as a strategy - more as a statement of fact. Talk about a Hobson’s Choice. It is simply a fact that the Republican nominee must be forthrightly prolife to gain a large segment of the right’s voting bloc. If he isn’t, he doesn’t.
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