Abortion Protests Restricted Near Doctor’s Home, Offices

Operation Rescue and two of its leaders have been barred by a Superior Court judge from demonstrating near the Canyon Country home and Los Angeles clinics of a doctor who performs abortions.

The injunction, handed down by Judge Diane Wayne last week in the wake of the shooting death in Florida of a physician by an anti-abortion protester, orders Operation Rescue members to stay at least 30 feet away from the home and the two clinics run by Dr. Leo Kenneally.

Operation Rescue leaders Randall Terry and Jeff White had entered Her Medical Clinic in the 2700 block of South Figueroa Street on Feb. 13 and “created a disturbance,” said Kenneally’s attorney, Jay Hartz.

That was the first time that protesters, who routinely picket the clinics, had entered the building, Hartz said, and it led Kenneally to take legal action against Operation Rescue.

“While they have the right to think and say what they want, they don’t have the right to trespass on the clinic’s premises. They don’t have the right to intimidate patients,” Hartz said.

Two years ago, Operation Rescue members demonstrated in front of Kenneally’s Canyon Country home, although Hartz said they have not done so recently. Kenneally also runs a clinic in Pacoima that is regularly picketed.

Operation Rescue attorney Andrew Zepeda said the incident in which Terry and White entered the clinic last month was just an excuse used by Kenneally to file the complaint.

Kenneally actually was angry that protesters were distributing Los Angeles Times stories to people outside the clinic that reported he had been charged with negligence in the deaths of three patients, Zepeda said.

The decision to enter the clinic by Terry and White was a “spur of the moment” one, Zepeda said. He added that Terry simply spoke to patients in the lobby of the clinic, telling them that women had died there. Zepeda said there are no immediate plans to challenge the court order.