Abortion protesters show up as Brookline clinic opens

By Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent

When he walked his child to preschool this morning, Brookline resident David Gray passed past several antiabortion protesters on Harvard Street who had signs with photos of fetuses and one that said "Thou Shall not Kill."

So after Gray left his child at school for the day, he walked up to the demonstrators and asked that they refrain from holding up signs with graphic images that could scare young children.

"I asked them if they are going to be out here to think about the children who go to school here every day, and think about the pictures they show," Gray said.

But Gray and dozens of other parents who can be seen walking hand-in-hand with their children on the way to school in Brookline Village every morning may have to get used to the sight of antiabortion demonstrations.

Protesters said they plan to be outside 111 Harvard St. every day now that Women's Health Services, a clinic that provides abortions, has relocated there after 17 years in Chestnut Hill. The clinic opened in the new location Tuesday morning.

"We're not going to go away," said Rita Russo, of Norwood, who stood outside the clinic with a poster of Jesus draped around her neck Tuesday. "It would be invisible if we weren't here. We don't want it to be invisible."

 The presence of the protesters has already riled neighbors, who say the clinic should not be located in the area because a preschool, elementary school, homes and small businesses are in close proximity. 

Brookline's Zoning Board of Appeals approved the clinic's move last summer, but by then neighbors on Harvard Street said protesters had already been on Harvard Street holding signs depicting a severed fetus head, and one protester had dressed in a Grim Reaper costume.

As a result, several of the neighbors, including businesses such as Little Corner Schoolhouse and Williams Piano, have filed a suit against the town for allowing the clinic to open at 111 Harvard St. 

Standing outside her preschool and watching protesters Tuesday morning, Ina Brother, executive director of the Little Corner Schoolhouse at 110 Harvard St., said it seemed as people were walking past the demonstrators without paying them any attention.

But Brother said she believes the clinic should have moved to a different location.
"It's the wrong place," she said. "Look at all of the children walking to school."

A security guard at the clinic turned away a reporter seeking comment Tuesday. Clinic owner Dr. Laurent Delli-Bovi has said Women's Health Services needed to relocate to Harvard Street because it could no longer afford the rent in Chestnut Hill.

The clinic is one of only a dozen left in the state that openly advertises it will perform abortions, said Andrea Miller, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

That number is down from 17 in 2002, according to a NARAL study released last fall, and the drop is indicative of a nationwide decline in access to clinics that provide abortions, Miller said. The number of clinics are declining because fewer doctors are training to provide reproductive services such as abortion, Miller said, and harassment and sometimes violence by antiabortion activists can also deter doctors from openly providing the service.

In 1994, two women were killed at two abortion clinics in Brookline.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to women's health, particularly abortion, we're going in the wrong direction," Miller said.

Brookline Police said they would be keeping a close eye on the area where Women's Health Services re-opened this Tuesday, and Brother said she felt as if she was in the safest neighborhood in the town because of the noticeable police presence.

Howard Mockler, who traveled to Brookline from Belmont to join the demonstration Tuesday, said protesters will abide by the rules, but they have a right to be outside the clinic. While some of the signs protesters have held have been graphic, Mockler said they are factual. Tuesday, he held a sign that had a photo of a baby and stated: "How much does one abortion cost? One human life."

"The point of our being here is to save unborn children's' lives," Mockler said.

Walking her children to school along Harvard Street, Olga Murphy, of Brighton, said everyone has the right to protest, but she doesn't think children need to see some of the signs being held by the protesters.

"Hopefully, they will just keep their opinions to themselves," Murphy said.

Earlene Williams, president of Williams Piano, said she's hoping the number of protesters does not increase.

Several demonstrators were standing in front of the piano shop Tuesday because as state-mandated buffer zone requires protesters to stand at least 35 feet away from entrances to abortion clinics. The painted line that demarcates part of the buffer zone for 111 Harvard St. is in the driveway of Williams Piano at 123 Harvard St., and Earlene Williams said she's hoping the anti-abortion protesters don't hurt her business.

"We're coping for the moment," she said.

Brock Parker can be reached at brock.globe@gmail.com