ACTIVISTS GET 30 DAYS FOR CLINIC PROTEST
The Buffalo News
LINK Matt Gryta, News Staff Reporter
December 6, 2002
Three out-of-town pro-life activists who staged a rally here two months ago in support of James C. Kopp have all received 30-day jail terms, law enforcement officials said Thursday.
The three were sentenced in what is believed to be the first convictions under a state law to protect health care workers and their clients at clinics where abortions are performed.
City Court Judge Shirley Troutman handed out the sentences along with orders of protection against the three, who were arrested Oct. 19 at Buffalo GYN Womenservices clinic on Main Street. The protesters entered the clinic and lay on the floor until their arrests.
"If they were testing the waters to see if they were going to get a slap on the wrist, they were wrong," said Glenn E. Murray, attorney for the clinic. "Now each of them is convicted of a crime, and each has a criminal record."
The Clinic Access and Anti-Stalking Act was passed after the slaying of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian and makes it illegal for protesters to block women trying to enter an abortion clinic, or to harass or intimidate health care workers at the facilities. Kopp is charged with Slepian's murder and will face trial next year.
Janet Cocchi, 47, of Pittsburgh, is the only one of the three still jailed here.
Luis Menchaca, 60, of New York City, and Laura Tellier, 50, of Oldsmar, Fla., completed their jail terms because they had remained in custody here following their arrests, said Christopher J. Belling, chief of the Erie County district attorney's City Court Bureau. Belling confirmed that under the act, a second conviction for any of the three will be a felony carrying a state prison term.
A day before the Oct. 19 clinic arrests, a pro-life group known as the Missionaries of Hope issued a news release saying it planned to stage a Buffalo protest "in solidarity with the alleged assailant James Charles Kopp." Kopp later admitted to The Buffalo News that he shot and killed Slepian. Murray said the recent protest "traumatized clinic workers and patients who ought not to have to fear violence in exercising a constitutional right." Neither the three protesters nor their attorneys could be reached to comment.
There have been many "letters to the editor" since James Kopp confessed to shooting Dr. Slepian. I believe this is the first one that supports Kopp's rationale.
Everybody's Column
The Buffalo News LINK
December 9, 2002
In James Kopp's confession in The News, he stated that, due to his actions, "at least some" of the 25 babies who were scheduled to be aborted the day after he shot Dr. Barnett Slepian survived. I have yet to see a confirmation of the accuracy of that statement, but if true, that fact alone may make Kopp's argument - that his actions were justifiable - at least debatable.
Donn Esmonde's view seems to be that everyone, on either side of the abortion issue, should put their feelings about it aside during this criminal case so that we can crucify this man and then wash our hands of it. By branding this killing as an "act of terrorism," as opposed to an "act of passion," Esmonde sets himself up as judge and jury and clearly puts the pro-choice camp in the driver's seat in the inevitable debate.
Vigilantes who sacrifice the few in order to save the many are nothing new. Those interested in historical examples in American history should study the case of John Brown. What is new is that since 9/11, every time some sensational act takes place, its perpetrator is branded as a terrorist. One could also make the case that anyone who aborts thousands of innocent babies each year is also a terrorist. Healthy debate is nothing to be afraid of. Just because a sensational and/or tragic event is what sparks the debate is no reason to ignore it.
RALPH PAYNE
Office of Media Resources
Niagara University