Related: Your Friendly Neighborhood Abortion Clinic
"Antiabortion demonstrators picket Brookline clinic opening; Neighbors decry use of graphic signs near school" by Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent | February 10, 2010
BROOKLINE - When he walked his child to preschool yesterday morning, Brookline resident David Gray passed 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.
Look, I care about the kids as much as the next guy; however, must we shield them from everything or lie to them?
And that war thing....
“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.
How about the kids being sent into battle over lies?
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 might 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 yesterday 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 yesterday. “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 nearby.
Brookline’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved the clinic’s move last summer, but by then residents 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.
Standing outside her preschool and watching protesters yesterday morning, Ina Brother, executive director of the Little Corner Schoolhouse at 110 Harvard St., said it appeared that 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 yesterday.
The clinic’s owner, Dr. Laurent Delli-Bovi, has said that 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.
Brookline police said they would be keeping a close eye on the area where Women’s Health Services reopened. In 1994, two women were killed at two abortion clinics in Brookline.
But in this case, Brother said she believed she was in the safest neighborhood in the town because of the noticeable police presence.
Taxpayers?
So other areas of the town under-covered now against robberies, etc?
Howard Mockler, who traveled to Brookline from Belmont to join the demonstration yesterday, said protesters will abide by the rules, but they have a right to be outside the clinic.
Although some of the signs protesters have held have been graphic, Mockler said they are factual.
Yesterday, he held a sign depicting a baby that 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 that everyone has the right to protest, but that she doesn’t think children need to see some of the signs protesters were holding.
“Hopefully, they will just keep their opinions to themselves,’’ Murphy said.
And antiwar folk?
I feel that way now even though everyone really agrees with me.
Businesses nearby on Harvard Street felt the presence of the protesters yesterday, as well.
Yeah, that's when it really gets notice.
Several demonstrators ended up standing in front of Williams Piano on Harvard Street yesterday because a state-mandated buffer zone requires protesters to stand at least 35 feet away from entrances to abortion clinics.
Earlene Williams, president of Williams Piano, said she is hoping the antiabortion protesters do not hurt her business.
“We’re coping for the moment,’’ she said.
As per the wars, I feel as if I've been coping for years.
Oh, I have.
As for kids, how about all the ones we've butchered in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan? Not much concern in my paper there.
