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By Tom Morganthau
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The tactics were clearly borrowed from the civil-rights movement of the 1960s, and they worked flawlessly. In Wichita, Kans., a protracted campaign of civil disobedience by the hard-line anti-abortion group Operation Rescue divided the city, made national headlines and led to the intervention last week of the federal government-on both sides of the issue. "This has been our most successful event ever," said an Operation Rescue leader, the Rev.Pat Mahoney of Boca Raton,Fla. "We're in a fishbowl now. When the president is in his golf cart, talking about us, how could we not love that?"
In fact, George Bush was talking about Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" campaign in Wichita-and it did not matter at all, to Mahoney and his cohorts, that the vacationing president had delivered a gentle reminder that protesters should stay within the law. But what exactly was the law? Bush, heading for the first tee at the Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport, Maine, artfully declined to say-which was probably as good a statement of the federal government's current position on abortion policy as the public was going to get. In Wichita, a team of U.S. marshals was mobilized by an angry federal judge, Patrick H.Kelly, to help police defend abortion clinics from Operation Rescue protesters blocking the entrance, while the U.S.Justice Department intervened in court to overturn the judge's order. The administration's position, Deputy Solicitor General John Roberts Jr. said, was merely that Judge Kelly had no jurisdiction in the case, and other officials agreed that the Justice Department was taking no position on the demonstrations themselves.
The spectacle-a legal conflict between the judicial and executive branches of the federal government-was as confusing to Washington as it was to Wichita. In essence, this straitlaced city of 310,000 Middle Americans had been targeted for publicity purposes by a band of anti-abortion zealots, who then succeeded in triggering a controversy between Judge Kelly and the Bush Administration. The judge, responding to repeated attempts by Operation Rescue to block the entrances of the city's three abortion clinics, sent in the marshals under an 1871 federal law prohibiting conspiracies designed to deprive citizens of their civil rights-in this case, a woman's right to an abortion. The Bush administration filed an advisory brief arguing that the 1871 law, enacted to protect blacks from Ku Klux Klan intimidation, did not apply to women seeking abortion and that the job of preventing disorders outside the Wichita clinics was a police matter that should be left to state and local authorities. Kelly, a Carter appointee and a Democrat, said publicly last week that he was "disgusted" by the administration's "political" intrusion in the case; he even appeared on ABC-TV's "Nightline" to argue his position. "Kelly had done nothing but help us," Mahoney observed-and that was probably true, assuming the real goal was to thrust Operation Rescue into the limelight.
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Wichita may be a portent of the future if Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that gave constitutional protection to abortion, is finally overturned. As both sides to the abortion controversy know well, a number of cases now on appeal in the federal courts will probably bring the core question before the U.S.Supreme Court in 1992. Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Utah and Guam have passed laws that in one way or another restrict abortion rights, and those laws are likely to create the test case the court needs to review the constitutional principles involved. Last week a federal judge in New Orleans struck down the Louisiana law, arguably the toughest of the four. That made it somewhat easier for the Louisiana attorney general, William Guste Jr., to push for an expedited appeal-and Guste, an avowed opponent of abortion, would like nothing better than to see Louisiana provide the occasion for striking down Roe.
The demise of Roe could lead to scores of state and local political battles to redefine U.S. abortion law. "This is going to be a national barometer," said Wichita Mayor Bob Knight, who is also an abortion opponent. "What's occurring in Wichita is going to occur in cities all over the country." Mahoney and Randall Terry,, the scholarly looking former used-car salesman who founded Operation Rescue, maintained that their campaign was an attempt to galvanize the city on the abortion issue. Since descending on Wichita in mid-July, Operation Rescue's national leadership has succeeded in bringing large numbers of city residents into the crusade: about half of the 2,000-plus arrests so far have involved Wichitans, and that total included 70 local clergyman. Now, Terry said,"we are in a transition period when local leadership must, and in fact wants, to take over."
By last weekend Terry and many of his out-of-town followers had gone home to rest up, and most residents were eager for a respite from the abortion controversy. The press reported that the city will have to pay more than $500,000 for police overtime and other costs stemming from the demonstrations, and Police Chief Rick Stone said his cops were exhausted by " a long, long month of verbal abuse, threats, intimidation and stress." Some residents were appalled by the harassment of judge Kelly, who received a telephone death threat and was confronted in his own yard by an angry citizen. (He was also compared to "a Nazi judge" by Terry.) "I don't think, overall, that Operation Rescue is well received," said Edward Flentje, director of the Hugo Wall Center of Urban Studies at Wichita State University. "Making Wichita the center of national attention is not something most Wichitans view favorably. A majority just don't feel this puts our best foot forward."
Elsewhere, the verdict on the Wichita controversy was divided. Although Operation Rescue and its confrontational tactics have generally been viewed with suspicion by many in the national anti-abortion movement, the Wichita campaign was widely seen as a major success. "Opinion about Randy's group is mixed," said one prominent pro-life activist. "But just about everyone views Wichita as good for the movement." Some Republicans, however, were mortified by the Bush administration's stance. The presidents "is jeopardizing his standing with young Republican women, who are overwhelmingly pro-choice," said Linda Chavez, a former White House aide. "The best thing for the party is for this issue to disappear." And Neil Newhouse, a Republican polltaker, said,"When you use tactics like [Operation Rescue's] you're appealing to 19 percent of the electorate and turning off everybody else."
That was the crux of it. By straddling the issue in Wichita, the Bush administration may be sending a dangerously mixed message to the voters. And if the Supreme Court issues a major new opinion on abortion before the 1992 election, abortion could become one of the hottest in next year's campaign.
Photo: A Kansas city on the front lines: Protestors and police at a family-planning center (JEFF TUTTLE-WICHITA EAGLE-SIPA)
Photo: Pro-choicers march on Maint Street (AL SCHABENSYGMA)
Photo: Judge Kelly at a press conference (KIM JOHNSON-WICHITA EAGLE-SYGMA)
Bans most abortions and penalizes doctors who perform them illegally. Struck down last week; state is asking for an expedited appeal.
Mandates counseling, a 24-hour waiting period and a husband's consent for a married woman. Likely to be first case heard by Supreme Court.
A doctor must certify that the woman's life or health is in jeopardy. Pregnancies caused by rape or incest must be reported to the police.
Prohibits abortion unless the woman's life or health is endangered. Makes no exception for pregnancies that result from rape or incest.
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