Abortion Clinic Complaints Prompt Clearwater To Consider New Ordinance

CLEARWATER, FL — It's a scene that's been played out nearly every Saturday at the Bread and Roses Woman’s Health Center at 1560 S Highland Ave. in Clearwater since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

Carrying picket signs and pamphlets, anti-abortion and abortion-rights supporters alike gather at the small clinic that's performed abortions in the area since 1985.

However, what was once a sedate group of residents expressing their First Amendment right has transformed into an often-unruly, boisterous crowd over the past few months, said Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter.

"You're a wicked and disgusting sinner," one anti-abortion advocate yelled at a pro-choice activist. "God hates you. I hope God kills you today. They're going to split hell wide open and you're gonna fall down in the pit."

The heated exchanges have Slaughter concerned that the now-benign rhetoric could turn violent.

While he said he can't prevent people from protesting in a public right-of-way or shouting insults, Slaughter told the Clearwater City Council at its workshop on Monday that he and City Attorney David Margolis have drafted an ordinance that would require protesters to stay at least 5 feet from all vehicles entering and exiting the clinic.

The police chief told the council that they decided on 5 feet because it's far enough away to prevent demonstrators from making direct contact with patients and staff, yet close enough to permit them to exercise their right to free speech.

Those violating the ordinance would be subject to a Class 3 violation, which carries a $130 fine, he said.

Noting that the city is already revising its noise ordinance due to complaints from residents about all-night parties and live music on Clearwater Beach, Vice Mayor Kathleen Beckman suggested the city add health centers to the ordinance that calls for regulating decibel levels within 100 feet of hospitals, churches, schools, public buildings, public parks or homes.

Slaughter, however, said the problem at the clinic isn't a noise issue, although a video he showed the council taken on an officer's body-worn camera contained plenty of shouting. Yelling on a public right-of-way in the middle of the day isn't against the law, he told the council.

City council member Mark Bunker wondered if the proposed ordinance would only cause more problems for the police.

"I have a feeling many of the protesters will cross that line," Bunker said. "I have seen people rushing the cars as they come through, so that is a real concern. Are we going to see an increase in calls to the police department?"

"The purpose of the ordinance really isn't to address the number of calls to the police department," Slaughter responded. "It's actually to address a safety concern. I suspect we'll still have a presence there. This just gives us a tool to manage and mitigate those concerns while allowing both sides to exercise their rights."

A first reading of the ordinance will take place during the city council's regular meeting Thursday night.

"I expect to have a full house on Thursday and want to remind everybody who's here that we are going to keep this civil," Mayor Frank Hibbard said. "Otherwise, I will kick people out of this chamber. They are not going to be able to bring signs in here and, frankly, the language, and I don't mean the foul language but the language I've heard from both groups, is not helpful and I don't think it's changing anyone's mind on either side."

Protests Grow After Roe Was Overturned

Slaughter said there have been protests at the clinic for more than a decade, but they were mostly small and peaceful. It's only been in recent months that the protests have taken on a more threatening tone.

"The protest activities have been escalating in the last several months and it's creating an unsafe situation when the vehicles enter and leave the location," said Slaughter.

He was concerned enough to assign and pay a contingent of off-duty police officers to man the clinic on Saturdays.

The clinic is open Monday through Saturday. While a handful of protesters show up on weekdays, Slaughter said Saturdays attract a larger, more acerbic and potentially violent crowd.

"Our officers have personally seen protesters repeatedly crossing the driveway and disrupting the ingress and egress of the vehicles, creating an unsafe condition," he said. "And the department is regularly called to mediate disputes associated with the protest activities."

The clinic has recruited an army of volunteers who wear bright pink traffic vests with "Volunteer Escort" printed on them to help patients enter and exit the clinic unaccosted.

But, the volunteer escorts said they often have difficulty reaching the patients, who are surrounded by a crowd of demonstrators the moment they pull into the parking lot.

"There have been reports of protesters knocking on car windows, tossing materials into open windows and shouting at the patients," Slaughter told Patch.

The police department's options for controlling the crowd are limited, he said.

"There's an inability to utilize the trespass statute because they are in a public right-of-way, so that's not a tool available to us," he said.

And the name-calling and shouting is protected under the First Amendment, Slaughter said.

All his officers can do is monitor the crowd and make sure no one breaks the law, resorts to violence or steps in front of traffic as they carelessly cross Highland Avenue waving their protest signs.

Deb and Dick Maxwell have been driving from their home in New Port Richey to "share the Gospel" outside the Clearwater clinic for the past 10 years. She agreed that the number of people demonstrating each Saturday rose dramatically after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, saying those who believe in the sanctity of life are more determined than ever to get their message out.

"Florida is famous now for abortions. Florida has the third largest rate of abortions in America," she said. "They're even coming from out of state to protest."

However, in the decade she's been going to the clinic, she said she's never witnessed any act of violence by demonstrators. She said they're simply people who want to exercise their constitutional right to express their belief in the sanctity of all life and, perhaps, influence a pregnant woman to make a different choice.

"This is murder in God’s eyes, plain and simple," she said.

She's concerned that creating a 5-foot buffer will be the first step toward restricting their constitutional rights.

"It is quite absurd," said Maxwell who plans to attend Thursday night's city council meeting with her husband. "Give them an inch and they will soon take a mile."

Nevertheless, clinic volunteer Jean Johnston said she was relieved when Slaughter began stationing officers at the clinic on Saturdays.

"I'm happy to report that I've noticed distinct changes with the police presence," she said. "But there is a still a palpable threat of violence in the air and the harassment and intimidation continues."

She fears it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

"I want to tell you that the threat of violence is real," Johnston said.

She noted that the National Abortion Federation surveyed 390 abortion clinics and found that instances of assaults and battery rose from 128 percent in 2020 to 600 percent in 2021.

"Access to reproductive health care is a federally protected human right," Johnston said, adding that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct the entrance to a clinic or use force, the threat of force or physical obstruction, such as a sit-in or blockade, to interfere with, injure or intimidate clinic workers or women seeking abortions or other reproductive procedures.

The act authorizes civil actions by those who are injured, the state attorney general and the state attorney for violations.

Access To Reproductive Health Care

Nevertheless, the growing number of violent protests at abortion clinics around the county prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to form the Reproductive Rights Task Force in July, shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, to protect a woman's access to reproductive health care.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta chairs the task force.

“The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision is a devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States,” said Gupta. “The court abandoned 50 years of precedent and took away the constitutional right to abortion, preventing women all over the country from being able to make critical decisions about our bodies, our health and our futures. The Justice Department is committed to protecting access to reproductive services.”

She said the task force monitors and evaluates all state and local legislation and enforcement actions that threaten to:

• Infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care;
• Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal;
• Impair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states;
• Impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law.

All four of those actions stipulated in the 1994 act are being challenged by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who paved the way for the state Legislature to pass a law last session banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Another bill has been proposed for the 2023 legislative session further restricting abortion access.