Call to rise up, completely stop (anti-choicers) in their tracks and shut down their march

SAN FRANCISCO

Abortion debate rivals refine their images
On eve of rallies, opponents soften profile, while pro-choice side battles complacency

- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006

Both sides in Saturday's dueling abortion rallies -- which could attract more than 15,000 people to San Francisco's Embarcadero -- are trying to spin new images for themselves in California.

Anti-abortion advocates are trying to soften their hardcore profile at Saturday's Walk for Life West Coast, telling marchers to not to "bring signs displaying graphic images of aborted children" and to remain "100 percent peaceful."

Abortion rights activists are worried that their movement has gone soft in arguably America's most liberal city -- and California -- and are trying to toughen it up by urging supporters "to rise up and completely stop (anti-abortion activists) in their tracks and shut down their march."

"We have a lazy and somewhat flat pro-choice movement in this state right now," said Elizabeth Creely, an organizer with Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights, which is organizing a counterdemonstration to the Walk for Life. "The movement has been institutionalized. We need people on the streets now."

Showing up in numbers to match the anti-abortion marchers will be one sign of the movement's strength, Creely said. Some activists are planning nonviolent civil disobedience to divert the route of the Walk for Life -- at last year's anti-abortion march, counterdemonstrators sat in the road briefly to block walkers -- while others will line the march chanting abortion rights slogans and performing street theater. Last year, that included waving coat hangers.

For Creely, the sense of urgency has two components. The first is next week's expected Senate confirmation of conservative Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, which pro-choice activists fear will endanger Roe vs. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion 33 years ago this week.

The second is the increasing visibility of the anti-abortion movement in California, which came closer than many expected in November to persuading state voters to adopt a parental consent law for minors seeking abortions. Anti-abortion forces plan to begin gathering signatures next month for a similar measure that could make the ballot in November.

Last year's first Walk for Life attracted several thousand supporters to the Embarcadero, and police expect as many as 15,000 anti-abortion demonstrators to attend Saturday's 11 a.m. rally and march. Some are coming on buses from as far away as Bakersfield. Police have no official estimate for the counterdemonstration, but expect a few thousand protesters.

The mere fact that anti-abortion marchers are returning to San Francisco surprises some abortion rights activists. "Over the past couple of years, there is less of that kind of public demonstration against a right to choose," said Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who will be speaking Monday to the Commonwealth Club.

Some abortion rights advocates worry that established pro-choice groups aren't taking the demonstration seriously. Planned Parenthood, for example, is staying away from Saturday's counterdemonstration, though it will hold a candlelight vigil in support of abortion rights that evening at Dolores Park.

"It baffles me that Planned Parenthood would not participate," said Toni Mendicino, an organizer of Saturday's counterdemonstration and an activist with a feminist organization called Radical Women. "It shows how they're more worried about offending the Democratic Party. Now is not the time for a candlelight vigil."

Dian Harrison, president of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate in San Francisco, declined to be interviewed directly about Saturday's demonstration and instead responded to e-mailed questions.

"Long before there was talk of a march, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate decided to use our limited resources to raise funds for critical services while providing our donors and activists with meaningful events to celebrate the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade," Harrison said. She said a fundraiser the group was holding Thursday night was expected to raise $100,000.

"There is no disagreement" among abortion rights supporters, Harrison said.

Abortion rights advocates were rattled by the relative closeness of the November vote on Proposition 73, which would have amended the state Constitution to require a doctor to notify a parent or guardian of an unmarried girl under age 18 at least 48 hours before performing an abortion. It lost by less than 6 percentage points, while other measures on the special election ballot were routed.

Dolores Meehan, an organizer of the Walk for Life, said Prop. 73 showed there was much common ground on the abortion issue.

"People came together over parental consent," Meehan said. "That shows there are a lot of people out there who we can reach (Saturday) with our message."

Meehan and other Walk for Life organizers say the theme of Saturday's demonstration, "Women Deserve Better than Abortion," is an example of how the movement is trying to focus more on helping women confronting an unwanted pregnancy and less on in-your-face imagery.

Saturday's speaker roster covers a range of anti-abortion positions. Feminists for Life of America president Serrin Foster is pushing for congressional legislation to establish centers on college campuses for pregnant students to get help raising their children. Another keynote speaker, the Rev. Clenard Childress, says abortion is a form of genocide against African Americans.

Mindful of the confrontational tactics of anti-abortion activists such as Operation Rescue, and the history of activists bombing and damaging clinics where abortions are performed, Walk for Life leaders urged participants not to respond Saturday if street debates get hot.

A message on its Web site cautions, "If you are unable to commit yourself to peaceful participation, please consider joining the thousands around the world who will be with us in prayer." (http://www.walkforlifewc.com/)

Critics such as Mendicino say march organizers "hide behind feminist rhetoric."

"They're trying to take away a legal right that all women have," Mendicino said. "This is just an example of an emboldened right wing."