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Back at Work

Those Signs in Mission Valley

by Nicholas Owen

On January 22, 2001, a state appeals court ruled that the injunction against pro-life picketers using photographs larger than 8-1/2" x 10" was unlawful. The injunction prohibited protestors from: "(d) Displaying and/or affixing (permanently or temporarily) any photographs or pictural representations which are larger than eight and one-half inches (8-1/2") by ten inches (10") on any vehicle, tree, utility pole, person, sidewalk, lawn, within 100 yards of Property 1 [Mission Valley Planned Parenthood]." "(e) Giving literature and photographs to anyone who does not willingly accept such materials." "(f) Giving photographs/posters/visual depictions of aborted fetuses to anyone under the age of 16 years old, or to anyone who does not willingly accept such materials."

Three months later, at 9:30 on a cold and rainy Saturday morning, most San Diegans are in bed or inside where it's warm, but not Herb and Heather Mechanic. They stand in front of Planned Parenthood in Mission Valley, San Diego's largest abortion clinic, holding up four-foot-by six-foot signs with pictures of babies mangled from abortion. Next to the pictures of aborted babies is a sign showing a healthy baby that reads "Choose Life". The wind works against them, and they re-prop themselves against the signs. An occasional motorist offers a thumbs-up sign, while more wave middle fingers or shout obscenities.

Heather speaks about the victory in court. "They'd served an injunction against different people, including Cheryl Sullenger and Ron Brock, that they weren't allowed to be here -- see them taking picures of us up there?" She points to a stout woman talking to a security guard. They glare at us. "We had groups here all the time. We had a large group of Catholics that were here praying and a lot of non-Catholic Christians, but they eventually forced us out. We tested the injunction one time. We had an attorney here and the police were called and they had nothing to stand on. "We've always been allowed to come. They tried to tell us that we couldn't be here with anything bigger than an eight by eleven sign, but that's nonsense. This is a first amendment principle. Aside from that, thou shalt not murder and this is the murder of little, bitty boys and girls.

"I'm very pleased and I feel that justice was well-served. I keep thinking of Psalm 91 where the Lord says that He will be our victor and vanquish the enemy and His loving kindness will endure no matter what the trial."

"A large group of us are going to Wichita where there will be several thousand pro-life people going to George Tiller's abortion mill there. He kills through the ninth month. Look up his web page (www.drtiller.com). After he kills a baby, he has them dressed in baby clothes, has a rocking chair and he arranges for the parents to rock their dead baby. He also has a reprobate pastor and a coffin, and he allows an entire ceremony to be performed. He actually has two web pages: One is for babies who have birth defects and were aborted and the other is for babies that were totally normal and aborted for convenience. It's allowed right up to the ninth month. I've been there and seen women going in with their bellies very full. It doesn't matter whether it's one week or one month or nine months old. A baby is a baby and we can't be tearing these children [out of the womb]. This is an abomination against God."

"I just did a post-abortion workshop in Wisconsin -- I'm a licensed therapist. And one of the things we asked the women to do was write a letter to the people they were angry with regarding the abortion. One woman who had had two abortions wrote about the abortionist and the nurse, but she also named the pro-life people on the sidewalk. That's because the day she went for her abortion, there was nobody there and had there been somebody there, she probably wouldn't have had the abortions. Since there were no pro-lifers, she felt totally lost and alone with no choice. We are the last bastion for these babies and mothers. My heart is also with the mothers, because they suffer so. One of the women had a daughter who had seven or eight abortions and the daughter committed suicide after her last abortion, she was so filled with guilt and shame. The suffering of these women is beyond belief. I know that there's healing and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, but oftentimes it's very hard to forgive ourselves."

Heather's husband, Herb, on the court decision: "It's a good thing. We have freedom of movement out here, which is very important."

The abortion signs greet patrons of two restaurants that flank Planned Parenthood. To the east is Wendy's Hamburgers and to the west is Denny's. Wendy's doesn't open until 11 o'clock, but the manager, Maribel, is already preparing to open. She speaks in broken English about the signs. "I see them, they come every Saturday." When asked if the signs bothered her or her customers, she shakes her head. "No."

Denny's restaurant's manager declined to be interviewed, but some patrons were willing to talk. One man with a large family said that he was glad to see them. "I'm pro-life. We're from the Big Bend area of west Texas. I love children." A young man from Oregon, hugging his girlfriend: "I think they're wasting their time, 'cause it's other people's business what they do. If they're not ready for it (having a baby) or whatnot, they shouldn't have to worry about if it's a kid or not. They may have made a mistake, and they're not ready to pay for what they did." Walking away, his girlfriend waved both her hands and said, "Well, I'm against abortion and that's all I've got to say!"

San Diego's area manager for Denny's, Jess Mandell, declined to comment on the signs.

Cheryl Sullenger, one of the principal defendents in the suit from which the injunction came (Wilkerson v. Scott): "We were excited that we won on the issues that we won on, but we were a little disappointed with the 25-foot buffer zone around the driveway. So we're going to take it to trial and see what happens."

"We'd like to see people go on out there. We know that the security guards have been telling people that no signs were allowed, period and that's not true. Everybody's not part of that injunction, only the named people and the terms of the injunction only apply to us, not everybody. They have to serve you [first]."

According to Sullenger, Planned Parenthood has become less agressive. "You have to remember that when they did that (filed the injunction) they were in the middle of trying to negotiate with HMOs for their business. Frankly, I think that was their main motivation for filing. They didn't like those big signs in front of their building because they were trying to court the HMOs and get those contracts. Before they got the HMO contracts, they were seriously concerned about whether or not they were going to be able to continue operating. They just didn't have the business. So they decided to join up with two other Planned Parenthood organizations. The third party -- I forget what it's called -- their whole purpose was contracting with the HMOs. So when they got those contracts, they did not want those signs in front of their business. I think that's why they came after us as hard as they did. Now that they have the HMO contracts, they're pretty secure, so all of a sudden, we're hearing about settlement negotiations. They're suddenly more conciliatory. "I think it was a victory for us. I know Planned Parenthood would say it's a victory for them, but we won on all the important issues. We won on our large, graphic signs, we won on the distance we had to stay away -- it had been 100 yards. They backed off on that. There was also a provision that prevented us from handing out literature to anyone 16 or younger and they threw that out as well. Now we can hand out literature to anyone on the street."

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