ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280048
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
Cheryl Richardson, who has been in jail for a month for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating violence at abortion clinics, says she's no martyr.
The anti-abortion activist said she constantly re-examines her decision. ``I can't imagine staying here that long, but I also don't want to violate my conscience and live self-condemned,'' she said.
Although she would be freed from the Alexandria Detention Center immediately if she testified, she said she fears prosecutors would twist her statements to indict innocent associates.
``It's a matter of religious conscience,'' she said. ``I don't have any knowledge of activities against abortion providers, but I don't trust the picture they want to build. They could use my words against someone and make me a government witness against pro-lifers.''
She said she is guided party by an Old Testament verse that says, ``You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness.''
Both sides agree that Richardson had no known role in any clinic violence. When she was jailed Nov. 27 by U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema for contempt of court, abortion rights activists said they had not heard much about Richardson.
Richardson, 33, is a research technician for the Agriculture Department who lives in Arnold, Md. She said she had an abortion at 18. ``I lived with a lot of guilt and shame because of that abortion.''
In 1991, she began picketing the same clinic where she had her abortion.
She has been arrested four times for blocking clinic entrances and other forms of organized protest.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB