WALNUT CREEK — After months of fine-tuning the legal details, Walnut Creek will officially begin prohibiting anti-abortion protesters from getting within eight feet of those entering or leaving the city’s Planned Parenthood clinic without their consent.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to establish the eight-foot buffer within 100 feet of the Oakland Boulevard clinic, where a narrow sidewalk and roadway have often led to crowds of protesters near the entrance.
The council had been prepared to approve the buffer’s creation last month, but stopped short after the city attorney requested more time to research what would constitute “excessive noise” at demonstrations.
A noise limit is absent in the city’s final ordinance, which contains only a mention that existing laws around “sidewalk and street obstructions, or prohibited noises” will still apply in front of Planned Parenthood.
But Councilman Kevin Wilk, who first floated the idea of a Planned Parenthood buffer in late 2020, urged staff to bring back a report on possible noise restrictions within the next six months.
“We need to address the noise as soon as possible,” Councilwoman Cindy Silva echoed at the meeting after volunteers said the demonstrations can often be heard from inside the clinic.
Protests are a regular sight at Planned Parenthood clinics in the Bay Area, but volunteers at the Walnut Creek site have accused demonstrators of loudly harassing and singling out women who are there to seek reproductive healthcare.
And while other cities in the region — including San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco and Napa — have already established their own protest buffers, Walnut Creek’s new law comes amid a marked increase in anti-abortion activism, with states around the country attempting to crack down on the federally legal procedure.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma joined a growing list of states with restrictive abortion laws by outlawing the procedure in all cases except medical emergencies. Those who attempted to perform the procedure could be charged with a felony under the new law.
In Texas, meanwhile, the state Supreme Court last week shut the door on challenges to a law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest.
Those who are found breaking the new law could wind up with misdemeanor citations, though a police lieutenant said recently that would be a last resort for demonstrators who don’t let up after receiving warnings.
Jamie Knox, the city’s police chief, said he encouraged Planned Parenthood officials to call law enforcement in the event someone violates the ordinance, which forbids anyone from harassing or intimidating others as they arrive or leave.
The bi-weekly demonstrations have spilled over into criminal investigations before, including one violent clash in 2020 that saw security guards pepper-spray counter-demonstrators.
The guards, who had been hired by a local chapter of anti-abortion group 40 Days For Life, were later charged with battery and possession of tear gas.
In statements, 40 Days For Life has repeatedly denied using aggressive tactics at protests, saying demonstrators agree when signing up to remain respectful at protests and not harass others.
“40 Days for Life is, and will remain, committed to being a peaceful, prayerful presence for life on the sidewalks,” the group’s regional chapter said in a recent email. “We are out there in prayer, and to offer women support and alternatives to abortion, if they wish.”
But volunteers tasked with escorting patients into the clinic — directly because of the anti-abortion demonstrations — say protesters often go out of their way to confront women whom they suspect of seeking an abortion.
“What they do is target individual patients, catcall them and the people who are with them, accuse them of terrible things, using terrible language,” said Alison Dale-Moore, a Planned Parenthood volunteer. “They frighten them, intimidate them and harass them.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com