xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT For Week ending July 9, 1994 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, gopher.WELL.com, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, distribute and TAKE ACTION. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS FLORIDA INJUNCTION AGAINST CLINIC PROTESTERS On June 30 the Supreme Court ruled that "buffer zones" around abortion clinics are allowable and do not violate the First Amendment. In the decision known as "Madsen v. Women's Health Center" the court voted 6-3 that such restrictions may be necessary to protect patient's right to obtain reproductive health care services. A 36-foot buffer zone was considered reasonable while a 300 foot zone was seen as sweeping "more broadly than necessary. Justice Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion. Blackmun, O'Connor, Souter & Ginsberg joined. Stevens joined in some parts but also filed a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Scalia concurred in part and dissented in part and Kennedy and Thomas signed on to his opinion. Noise restrictions (i.e. bullhorns that could be heard inside the clinic) were allowable. The ban on all images was not allowable. Justice Scalia argued that he considered this a "free speech injunction case" and would strike down al the provisions of the injunction as unconstitutional. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx THIRTY ARRESTED IN LITTLE ROCK Thirty anti-abortion protesters were arrested July 9 outside an abortion clinic in Little Rock, Arkansas for blocking the entrance to a clinic. They were charged with criminal trespass, a misdemeanor carrying penalties of up to 90 days in jail and $500 in fines. U.S. Attorney Paula Casey said she will consider charging the demonstrators under FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.) Under FACE, non-violent offenders can be fined $10,000 and jailed for six months for a first conviction, and fined $25,000 and 18 months in prison for subsequent offenses. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WILL FACE REALLY BE ENFORCED? Now that FACE has passed, pro-choice activists must begin a campaign to educate law enforcement and justice officials in the importance of *enforcing* the law. In an important first step, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund has published a guide to the enforcement of FACE including information about activities that violate FACE, who can bring a lawsuit, evidence needed, addresses of state Attorneys General and a sample letter to U.S. Attorneys and state Attorneys General. The guide is titled "Stop the Terrorism. You can get a copy by sending $5 to the NOW LDEF, 99 Hudson Street Suite 1201, New York, N.Y. 10013. Call (212)925-6635 for more info. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN PARENTAL CONSENT LAW On July 1 a California state appeals court struck down a California law requiring teenagers to obtain the consent of a parent or judge for an abortion. Attorney General Dan Lungren immediately announced that the state will appeal the ruling, setting the stage for a major battle in the California Supreme Court. The 1987 law has never been enforced due to legal challenges. Many doubt that Lungren will mount an appeal until after the November elections which could prove to be quite a battle for Lungren. The law would be a "severe" intrusion on a minor's right o privacy under the California Constitution according to the Appeals Court. The California Constitution right to privacy is far stronger than the U.S. Constitution's right to privacy and the court concluded that "any parental interest in the child's decision or welfare must bow to the child's right of privacy." Each year about 30,000 minors seek abortion in California, one of the highest teenage abortion rates in the country. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "SAVING BABIES BY DAY, ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS BY NIGHT" Operation Rescue and the Missionaries to the Pre-born continue their month-long so-called "baby-saving tour of California." About 50 people are traveling in a caravan of RV's, vans and cars throughout California terrorizing women, doctors, and clinic staff. Beginning in San Clemente on June 25, the caravan has made it's way north through San Louis Obispo and Monterey and arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday July 9. So far they have picketed doctors homes, rushed the doors at one hospital and blockaded a clinic for 2 and 1/2 hours. No one has been arrested yet. The caravan is scheduled to be in Redding on July 15, Sacramento on July 16, Fresno on July 21 and San Fernando on July 23. For more information about the caravan you can call the CARAL hotline at 415-546-7525. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET NOTES Due to a technical glitch, many of you on the email list received a blank message from me about a week ago. Sorry about that. Speaking of mail, if you recently subscribed to CHOICE-NET but haven't yet begun receiving it in email, please be patient. Due to a great deal of favorable publicity, the email list has grown tremendously, and with Operation Rescue in town there just hasn't been time to keep up. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom News, Culture Watch, Political Woman, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, C-Span, CNN, Reuters, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, Administrative Director, CARAL-North .