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Abortion protesters decry plan
"This could be the scene that unfolds here on a regular basis," said Joe Parente, spokesman for Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group that protests in front of American Women's Services, an abortion clinic in the Gateway Towers next to the Pittsburgh Hilton & Towers.
"What we want to show you today are the economic ramifications," he said.
Parente claims protesters could be forced to stand as much as 100 feet away from Downtown and East Liberty abortion clinics.
A proposed ordinance before Pittsburgh City Council would set up a 100-foot buffer zone in front of abortion clinics. Protesters within that buffer would have to stay at least 8 feet away from anyone going to the clinic who wants to be left alone.
"It's not going to affect businesses unless they're 15 feet from the (clinic's) door," said City Councilman William Peduto, who co-sponsored the legislation with Councilman Doug Shields.
City Council is scheduled to take a preliminary vote on the proposal Wednesday and could take a final vote next week.
Peduto, of Point Breeze, refuted Operation Rescue's assertion that the ordinance would be difficult for police to enforce, saying other cities have been able to deal with similar ordinances.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Denver law that created an 8-foot "bubble of privacy" around abortion clinic workers and clients.
Keith Tucci, national director of Operation Rescue from 1990-94 and a pastor at Living Hope Church in Latrobe, Westmoreland County, said his group won't follow Pittsburgh's ordinance if it's passed.
"Our behavior is not going to change," he said as he tore up a copy of the proposal yesterday and let it fall to the sidewalk.
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