_________________________________________________________________ W I N N I N G B Y C I R C U M N A V I G A T I O N: Milwaukee's clinic defenders find legal recourse on a detour around the District Attorney Copyright 1993, 1994 by Muriel Hogan _________________________________________________________________ As the Milwaukee Clinic Protection Coalition (MCPC) steeled itself for a second Wisconsin winter on the street, members celebrated the anniversary of the permanent injunction signed December 10, 1992 by Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Wagner. The injunction limits certain kinds of protest activity outside Milwaukee's abortion clinics. Clinic escorts and defenders, dreading their winter vigil, are nonetheless cheered by indications that the fundamentalist Christian onslaught is diminishing at last. Once-huge crowds of "Antis" have dwindled to a handful on weekdays and 20 or 30 on Saturdays. At some clinics, there've been no protesters at all, a condition the defenders call "NFA." Away from the clinics, protest leaders can't recruit more that a few hundred people to come to their public events. By contrast, LifeChain, an annual pro-life demonstration in Milwaukee, attracted 8,000 people last fall. The Milwaukee Journal quoted one LifeChain participant who preferred to express his opinion "without threatening anyone, without breaking any laws." * Signs of decline Programming on the Christian broadcast station WVCY also reflects the cooldown. At the height of Milwaukee's 1992 summer protests, WVCY-FM aired two hours a day of live reports and exhortations, while WVCY-TV showed 30 minutes a night of clinic protest footage, often followed by an hour-long call-in show on the subject. In 1993, most abortion-related programs were nostalgic reruns of the Antis' 1992 glory days. WVCY's anti-abortion radio show, "Building the Foundations" has cut back from 30 minutes to 15, inspiring its MCPC listeners to call it "The Quarter-Hour of Power." Other WVCY shows have switched to safer topics: school prayer, satanism in popular music, and the dangers of troll dolls. Today, WVCY often ignores news about abortion protesters who are facing fines and jail terms under the permanent injunction. * Attendance down, violence up MCPC started in April, 1992, when anti-abortion activists announced their eight-week "Short-Term Mission to the Pre-Born." That summer, the Missionaries to the Preborn, Operation Rescue, and Youth for America (YOFAM) orchestrated large demonstrations and blockades. Missionary founders Rev. Joseph Foreman and Rev. Matthew Trewhella stated their intention to close every abortion clinic in Milwaukee. The Short-Term Mission resulted in over 1,000 arrests and $1 million in law enforcement costs. By contrast, 1993's summer protests were much smaller, with police costs of $112,000. But the Milwaukee Fire Department reported costs of $48,000 for the butyric acid attack on one clinic in August, and $99,000 for two September "car rescues" in which Antis chained themselves into junked automobiles to block clinic doors. Figures are unavailable for protest-related court costs and for the amount of protesters' unpaid fines. As the Antis' desperation has increased, so has their violence. Since Dr. David Gunn's assassination last March, Milwaukee's doctors have been the target of home blockades, stalking, and death threats. One clinic has had bullets fired through its windows four times in 1993. * How the defenders attack On the street, MCPC's strategy is purely defensive, protecting patients and holding clinic doors to prevent blockades. Defenders practice the discipline of keeping their hands in their pockets and avoiding verbal exchanges with the Antis. But in court, the hands come out of the pockets. Using the permanent injunction, the Coalition has launched a full-tilt legal offensive against the Antis. The injunction orders protesters to stay 25 feet away from each clinic and ten feet from each patient. Protesters must not impede patients, touch them, photograph them, or record their license plates. (See box.) If an Anti repeatedly breaks these rules, MCPC serves them with the injunction and starts collecting evidence of their violations. * The legal lioness Attorney Joan Clark, one of MCPC's co-coordinators, has led the legal attacks like a mama lion: watchful, tenacious, and coolly aggressive. A self-described "housewife and mom," she plots strategies with other pro-choice attorneys including her husband Bill Guis, MCPC board members Katy Doyle and Katie Walsh, and Walsh's husband Steve Glenn. No doubt, the presence of so many female lawyers has inspired gland-shrivelling FemiNazi paranoia in many Antis. Interviewed last week, Clark said MCPC began its legal work even before the Short-Term Mission. "By the time the first big crowds hit the streets," she said, "the Coalition had been successful in getting a preliminary injunction into place." "That spring," Clark said, "Katie Walsh and Chris Korsmo (of NARAL) convinced the Powers That Be that there was going to be serious, serious trouble. And with no injunction, there'd be no mechanism to handle it." The December permanent injunction, almost identical to the preliminary, solidified what Clark calls the "completely separate, parallel system of justice" that protects Milwaukee's five abortion clinics. But even after the preliminary injunction was signed, its benefits were hard to see and difficult to enforce. "It didn't do us much tangible good until this year. But two significant things happened. First, fully half of the named defendents disappeared. In that respect, the injunction started helping right away. And second, it gave us a great morale boost." * A detour around what? But why was this roundabout route necessary? "You get an injunction because there isn't an enforceable law on the books that will that will prevent certain things from taking place," Clark explained. "There's a hole and you need to fill it up." "We needed this injunction," she said, "because the Milwaukee District Attorney, E. Michael McCann, is anti-choice and would not charge people who were arrested day after day. The only way to stop this activity was to set up a completely separate system of justice," she said. "People don't realize that the Missionaries had already been doing this for three years, long before the Short-Term Mission." Clark said. "Every single day at Summit, when a patient would approach, two people blocked the door. You call the cops, get the paddy, spend an hour getting rid of them. The woman would get in. And then when the next patient came -- two more people would sit down." Clark said police officers have told her that "until the Coalition started, the DA wouldn't talk to police or clinic owners about anything, not even battery. Dr. Paul Seamars was physically restrained by one Anti while another took his picture, and the DA wouldn't do anything. It's a very, very, very dishonest policy." "Anywhere else," said Clark, "if you receive ten municipal disorderly conduct tickets for the same activity within a relatively short period of time, you'll be charged with a crime, because these muni tickets are not deterring you." "If we had had a District Attorney who'd do his job, the Missionaries wouldn't be here. Except for two weeks in Buffalo and four weeks in Wichita, we have the most chronic, terrible problem in the country," she said. * Have you been served? You'll frequently find Clark in court, sitting at the prosecution table with counsel from the City Attorney or State Attorney General. "I'm there unofficially as an evidence gatherer. I'm more conversant with the facts than the city attorney, because usually I was there when the incident happened," Clark said. "A second function we serve is to tell the city when the people they're looking for show up at clinics." Clark also serves injunctions for MCPC and keeps track of which Antis have been served. She described her informal rule: "We serve people whose names we know who violate the injunction. Because down the road, if they do something bad, we want to be able to bring a motion against them." She's very sensitive to the free speech issues the injunction raises. "If you violate the injunction, the question is whether you're acting in concert with a named defendant, and / or whether we care," she said. "Take the Concrete Christian," she said, referring to a protester who always stands motionless and silent. "He violates the injunction every day, but I couldn't care less. I consider that First Amendment activity, and I would never go after him," Clark said. Although we might get a judge to say this guy is acting in concert, it would be dishonest, because he's not." Clark urges people to come observe how "sidewalk counselling" works. "Watch for half an hour," she said. "You'll see: it's not someone expressing a view. It's very aggressive, very physical -- and it's designed to scare the hell out of somebody who's seeking medical attention." * Crime and punishment So far, MCPC's biggest catch is Brian Longworth, convicted in November of criminal contempt and sentenced to two years for twice blockading clinic doors. Longworth first attracted MCPC's attention by leading "kiddie-hits," blockades that result in dozens of arrests of children as young as eight years old. "Longworth is definitely the worst," said Clark. "Longworth is big because he's the leader of Youth for America, he felt he was untouchable, and his name was not on the injunction." Clark stressed the importance of prosecuting defendants whose names are not on the injunction: "The Antis tell everybody the injunction's just a piece of paper. If your name isn't on there, it doesn't apply to you. But this Longworth thing hit everybody right in the face. All of a sudden, they can't deny it any more," she said. Another un-named defendant, Rev. Joseph Foreman, was found in civil contempt November 29. Foreman's a national figure among anti- abortion activists, a former field operations director for Operation Rescue. Since moving to Milwaukee in 1992, he's become the most prominent leader on the local scene. Oddly, neither WVCY nor the Missionaries to the Preborn has mentioned Foreman's conviction. At his trial, Foreman complained that he felt singled out for selective prosecution, and urged the city to first pursue defendants who were named on the injunction. Joan Clark dismissed Foreman's assertion, saying, "Joe knows why he's being picked. A prosecutor with limited resources will go after the people who are the most troublesome." Altogether, six Antis have been found in criminal contempt and 27 in civil contempt. More than half of these people have come to Milwaukee from other states to participate in protests here. A person found in civil contempt must forfeit $500, or swear to obey the injunction, or serve 20 days. For a second violation, penalties double. A third violation can become criminal contempt, carrying $5,000 or a year in jail. The Milwaukee City Attorney's office and the State Attorney General are continuing to bring contempt motions against Antis who violate the injunction. * Approaching the endgame The permanent injunction, like many legal matters, has taken effect with an almost geological slowness over the past year. Now Clark and the Coalition can sense its increasing speed and effectiveness. "This is absolutely going to mop up the problem," she said. "Things will pop up now and again, but most Antis will drop out after their first convictions. They're desperate! Why are they talking about Waco, Texas all the time, and Halloween? They can't even talk about this issue on the radio any more!" At the clinics, defenders feel that the remaining protesters have become more frantic. As their legal woes multiply, previously mild-mannered Antis have spun out of control. In recent weeks, police have arrested middle-aged Christian homeowners for kicking, slapping, and spitting at clinic defenders and escorts. With spring, MCPC hopes that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) bill will solve the Anti problem for clinics nationwide. FACE has passed both houses of Congress, but must clear a conference committee before President Clinton can sign it. Among hard-core protesters, a common practice is to blockade in one city until the penalties become too severe, then move to another city. Brian Longworth, for example, collected 16 convictions in Georgia and California before he came to Wisconsin. The new federal law will stop these itinerant protestors much more effectively. FACE may make the local issue moot, but the pro-choice community won't forget how their District Attorney made Milwaukee taxpayers underwrite his personal religious beliefs. And dollars don't cover the damage to patients' privacy and peace of mind. One clinic escort said, "I wish I'd counted the tears. Every time the Antis make a woman cry, I think of how the DA should make reparations for all those tears." Clark said that one defender, Mike Salick, has found the perfect analogy for MCPC's long struggle. "It's like a town in the Old West," she said, "where the bad guys are preying on the townspeople. And for some reason, the sheriff won't do anything. Finally the townspeople say 'OK, we've had enough!' And they rise up and they drive the bad guys out of town. That's just what we've done!" _________________________________________________________________ * Clip and save! How to Exercise Your First Amendment Rights Without Getting Arrested: A Handy Wallet Card for the Pro-Life Activist 1. Do not come any closer than 25 feet to any abortion clinic's doorway, parking lot, or driveway. 2. Do not come any closer than 10 feet to any person entering or leaving the clinic. 3. Do not physically abuse, grab, touch, push, shove, or crowd any person entering or leaving the clinic. 4. Do not photograph any person entering or leaving the clinic, and do not record their car's license number. 5. Clinic defenders focus their legal offensive on certain kinds of protesters, those who: - Blockade clinic entrances. - Threaten or scare patients, doctors, or clinic staff. - Make physical contact with patients or defenders. - Lose their tempers, or are verbally abusive. You can speak, pray, sing, hold a sign, and counsel anyone who voluntarily approaches you. People who follow these guidelines have nothing to worry about. _________________________________________________________________ This article has appeared in: The Shepherd Express, Milwaukee, WI, December, 1993. The Sojourner, Boston, MA, January, 1994, in a condensed version. Off Our Backs, Washington, DC, February, 1994. _________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1993, 1994 by Muriel Hogan Anyone may duplicate or distribute this article on BBSs, nets, and echos. No one may reproduce this article in hardcopy for sale or free distribution without my prior written permission. For print permission, please contact me via Fido netmail. _________________________________________________________________