Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 20, 1992 TAG: 9203200446
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID NOVA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ms. Kincaid argues that the law against blockading medical facilities by groups such as Operation Rescue should not be strengthened. According to her, "the laws now work. If it's not broken, what are we trying to fix?"
The current law clearly favors those who blockade clinics to stop women from having abortions. Physically prohibiting access to medical facilities is considered a misdemeanor in Virginia. The punishments are minor. The law does little to deter repeat offenders.
The most recent Operation Rescue blockade in Charlottesville underscores this point. Many of the more than 50 people arrested had dozens of prior arrests for similar crimes.
The punishment for all but a handful of the Charlottesville blockaders was a 10-day suspended sentence. No fine. No jail time as long as they agreed not to blockade the Charlottesville clinic again for one year. I've received stiffer penalties for double-parking.
One consequence of treating clinic blockades as misdemeanors is that law-enforcement officials are unable to identify those with prior arrests in other jurisdictions. Police departments are required to process and document felony arrests in statewide computers. Parking tickets, clinic blockades and other misdemeanors are not processed.
Multiple infractions for misdemeanors, therefore, never appear on prosecutors' computers in other parts of the state - not even if there were 100 previous infractions. With no official prior record, first offenders are often indistinguishable from serial blockaders.
Misdemeanor fines are modest at best, and protesters, especially those from out of state, avoid paying. Rarely will law enforcement go after those who do not. Yet the costs from overtime pay and added police security during clinic blockades amount to thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Ms. Kincaid likens the efforts of clinic blockaders to Europeans who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. She believes that the heroes of World War II who kept Jews from being delivered to the death camps are of the same ilk as members of Operation Rescue.
As a Jew who has only seen pictures of my relatives killed at Auschwitz, I find the comparisons outrageous. And as a person, I find the implications of her analogy distressing. Though Ms. Kincaid never mentions the physicians who perform abortions or the pregnant women who seek them, she implies that they are the Nazis of the '90s. They most certainly are not.
As Operation Rescue and other anti-abortion groups continue to forcibly deny women access to medical facilities, the Virginia Legislature has an obligation to consider revising Virginia's statutes. Abortion foes have a right as Americans to protest and to freely and publicly express their viewpoint. In no manner should peaceful picketing be squelched. However, encroachment on the rights of others by obstructing free passage must not be permitted.
First, and perhaps second, offenses should remain misdemeanors. Repeated offenses can only be deterred with more stringent penalties.
Requiring police departments to process names of blockaders would provide essential information for law-enforcement officials attempting to identify serial offenders. Requiring blockaders to pay for the costs of overtime by police and public officials would also serve as a strong disincentive.
David Nova is director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge.
by CNB