THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200056
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 64 lines
The Rev. Paul Schenck spent a month in federal prison and was fined $130,000 for approaching too closely to women seeking abortions at a clinic outside Buffalo, New York.
Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court partly vindicated Schenck - now a pastor in Virginia Beach - by ruling that a federal judge's order violated Schenck's constitutional right to free speech.
Speaking from a USAir flight to Buffalo where he'd celebrate his victory, Schenck said he hopes people on both sides of the controversy took the right message from the decision.
``The whole purpose of our suit was to regain the constitutional right to have a quiet and respectful personal conversation with women entering a clinic,'' Schenck said. ``For volunteer clergy and counselors to offer the truth about abortion, that should be protected by the Constitution.''
The Supreme Court's decision should not be abused, he said. ``If someone were to harass or intimidate or threaten somebody outside a clinic, then I would hope the local authorities would charge that person with those crimes.''
Schenck, 38, is now rector of Christ Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach and a director of the American Center for Law and Justice, the legal-advocacy group established by Pat Robertson which is a sort of religious counterpart to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Schenck's case was the first taken on by Robertson's ACLJ in 1994, when he moved to Virginia Beach. He said the center has spent $750,000 on the case and has had as many as seven lawyers working on it.
The case was based on a 1990 incident that occurred outside Buffalo, N.Y., where Schenck was part of an effort by the Western New York Clergy Council to provide ``sidewalk counseling services'' around abortion clinics.
A federal judge ordered Schenck and others to keep 15 feet from the clinic's driveway and front door, as well as 15 feet from the clients themselves. The Supreme Court upheld the first requirement. However, the court said protesters can talk face-to-face with clinic patients and staff on public sidewalks and streets.
Schenck was arrested and convicted of violating the order by distributing Bibles, pamphlets by Billy Graham and pro-life literature. Six others were also convicted, and one other person went to prison.
Schenck was sent to a federal prison camp for one month, then spent five months under house arrest in Virginia Beach. His bank account was seized to help satisfy $130,000 in fines.
He does not expect to get any of that back.
``This was never about money,'' Schenck said. ``I understand that we would have to return to the court and begin another lengthy legal process to recover those monies.
``We will accept this as a moral victory.''
He emphasized that his aim was always counseling, not harassment.
``What sidewalk counselors were trying to do was offer a quiet word of hope,'' Schenck said. ``I am grateful to God for giving us the strength and the fortitude to persevere all the way to the Supreme Court.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rev. Paul Schenck celebrates with Nancy Walker after his
precedent-setting win permitting anti-abortion protesters to
approach clinic patients.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING ABORTION CLINIC
PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATORS