ARTICLES

"Idiots Who Routinely Harass Doctors"

STATEWIDE 'OUTING' PICKET GOES OFF WITHOUT INCIDENT

By Anne Knight and Karl Brauer

Choose Now, a new educational group that "promotes moral choices in medical care," conducted a statewide picket August 29 "outing" abortionists affiliated with Family Planning Associates clinics owned by abortion millionaire Edward Allred. From Beverly Hills to Brentwood to La Mesa, picketers targeted the abortionists' homes so that "their neighbors know just what they do for a living."

The protests were organized by Colette and Tim Wilson of Inglewood because, as Tim Wilson wrote in the Choose Now press release, "these abortionists come into our neighborhoods to do their grisly work, then retreat to their communities and attempt to live anonymously." The Choose Now effort involved 300 picketers statewide, who picketed the homes of about 15 Family Planning Associates abortionists. FPA clinics are largely concentrated in Southern California.

The picket of Beverly Hills abortionist Jack Dym was joined by 6-year-old Angelique Guarneri, who was scheduled to be aborted at eight months of life until pro-lifers convinced her mother to carry her to term.

To ensure that the protests would not violate any laws, Choose Now sent a letter to the city attorneys of each municipality in which protests were planned. In the letter, Choose Now cited a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision, Frisby v. Schultz, where the court held that as long as picketing did not make the target of the picket feel physically like a captive in his home, the protesters could not be barred from the residential neighborhoods. "They may enter such neighborhoods alone or in groups, even marching," the justices wrote. "They may go door to door to proselytize their views. They may distribute literature in this manner or though the mails. They may contact residents by telephone, short of harassment."

In San Diego, approximately 20 pro-life activists stood in temperatures well over 100 degrees for an hour and a half at the corner of Navajo Road and Lake Murray Boulevard picketing the residence of abortionist James Long. Long's condominium is located about one mile from the Family Planning Associates abortion clinic in La Mesa where he worked for several years prior to moving his practice to a Montclair FPA clinic in May. Even after the move Long had continued living in San Diego.

Although protest organizers informed local news media of each picket, the San Diego event was the only one to receive television coverage. Picket participant Cheryl Sullenger reported that two local stations interviewed the picketers. "It didn't matter what they [the news media] said about us, because they showed the signs [with] the guy's name, and he's an abortionist," Sullenger said. "That was the whole point." According to Sullenger, picketers who saw the TV reports thought they were reasonably balanced. Picketers said the neighborhood response as "pretty mellow." No police were present.

Following the August 29 picket, Sullenger asked a door-to-door evangelist team at her church, Missionary Bible Fellowship in Santee, to visit Long. They arrived on Monday, August 31, and reported that, although no one answered the door, the television and lights were on.

Teen pro-life picketers returned to the busy streets near Long's residence on September 7, Labor Day. They encountered more hostility -- mainly yelling -- from passersby this time. But three police cars patrolled the Labor Day picket, and there were no incidents.

One woman who lived in the condominium complex hugged the picketers and said she was proud of what they were doing. She said the mailman had told her that Long had moved days before, and all his mail was being forwarded to an address in Los Angeles. The woman said she intended to write him a letter requesting that he stop performing abortions.

At the other end of the spectrum was attorney Karl Keener of the Los Angeles law firm of Baker, Silberberg & Keener. Choose Now sent letters to some affected residents telling them the name and address of their abortionist neighbor. Keener sent a letter to Choose Now threatening to sue them if they "ever darken my mailbox again" with their "trash hate mail."

The Wilsons received another letter addressed to them that said: "We are compiling a list of idiots who routinely harass doctors. Our research indicates that you meet this criteria (sic). If this is not correct, please contact the Pope. Otherwise you can stuff this letter up your sanctimonious a**!" The letter was signed, "Hatefully yours, Jim 2, Jimmy Swaggert (sic) & Jim Baker (sic), Directors of 'Fornicators Anonymous.'"

Choose Now also sent letters to the targeted abortionists, asking them to contact Choose Now if they no longer perform abortions. Colette Wilson told News Notes this was to "give the doctors a way out." None of the abortionists responded.

When the Missionary Bible Fellowship evangelist team returned to Long's condominium that evening, the door was answered by four college students who said they had just moved in. They invited the evangelists in, and during their three-hour chat the visitors saw no signs that Long was still living there. Sullenger reports that Long owns two other units in the complex.

According to Sullenger, there are now no FPA abortionists living in San Diego. The three abortionists currently working at the La Mesa FPA clinic -- Thomas Lee Grubbs, Richard Max Foxx, and Vernon Paul Wagner -- commute from out of the area. On August 29, Grubbs's home in the pricey Long Beach community of Belmont Shores was picketed by 25 people, Foxx's home in La Quinta was not picketed due to extreme heat, and Wagner's home in Huntington Beach was picketed by 70 people. Sullenger noted that most FPA abortionists are now elderly: three are in their seventies and most are in their sixties. Long, in his 40s, is the youngest.