BY MARTIN DUNNE
ST. LOUIS - At 6:00 a.m. on August 3, 300 pro-choice activists showed up to defend the Reproductive Health Services (RHS) clinic here. Police kept the clinic defenders separated from 15-20 anti-choice protesters. Over the next two days, hundreds of supporters of women's right to abortion continued to defend the clinics in this area.
When the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA) announced it was planning actions to disrupt abortion clinics in the St. Louis area August 3-5, an ad hoc coalition involving several reproductive rights groups formed to counter the rightists.
The ACLA's appearance in St. Louis is part of the group's national "Nowhere to Hide" campaign, which aims to close clinics and force targeted physicians to stop performing abortions. The anti-abortion rights group was formed last year by members of Operation Rescue who left that organization when it rejected the argument of "justifiable homicide" put forward by Paul Hill, who was convicted of murdering a doctor who performed abortions in Pensacola, Florida. Regional director David Crane claims the ACLA has no position on "justifiable homicide," but he and several leaders of the group signed a petition by Hill supporting the use of deadly force to protect "unborn children."
The call to defend the clinics got a great response. Four hundred people showed up for a clinic defense training session July 31; organizers had expected a turnout of 150.
On August 4, the second day of the mobilization, 200 people came to defend the RHS clinic. Upon hearing that the ACLA had concentrated most of their forces at the Hope Clinic in nearby Granite City, Illinois, leaders of the defense effort quickly sent 80 volunteers across the Mississippi River. They joined other abortion rights supporters there and once again outnumbered the ACLA forces.
Among the participants over the three days was Earl Meyer, a retired member of Teamsters Local 2964. Meyer was working in Kansas when Operation Rescue assaulted the Wichita clinics in 1991. "I joined the pro-choice side and helped to defend clinics because I believe in democracy," he said. "I've been on a lot of picket lines, so when Planned Parenthood called me, I felt I had to come."
Jena McClintock, a student at Webster University who participated in defense at both clinics, described the antiabortion movement as an "effort to prevent women from maintaining control of their bodies. This is not an issue of religion or life, it's an issue of personal freedom."
As the abortion rights supporters grew in numbers at the Reproductive Health Services throughout the morning Saturday, August 5, hundreds of motorists responded to signs asking them to "Honk for Choice."
Meanwhile at the Hope Clinic a crowd of about 80 rightists was confronted by 100 clinic escorts and supporters who ensured that services at the clinic were not disrupted.
Participants in defense of both clinics joined others at a rally at noon on Saturday at the St. John's United Methodist Church in St. Louis. The church, which accommodates 600, was packed.
Linda Taggart received a standing ovation when she addressed the crowd. Taggart is the director of one of the two abortion clinics in Pensacola. Two doctors and a clinic escort have been murdered at clinics in that city in the last two years.
Hope Clinic director Sally Burgess-Griffith described attacks from anti-abortion forces there since 1982, including a firebombing and kidnapping of one of their doctors.
St. Louis mayor Freeman Bosley also spoke, explaining that he was there "to reaffirm my commitment to women and a woman's right to choose." Missouri governor Mel Carnahan sent a message to the event stating, "The ACLA has no business here and is not welcome."