The Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday will discuss creating a buffer zone around Planned Parenthood to cut down on confrontations between protesters and patients.
During public comment period of two October council meetings, advocates on both sides of the abortion issue argued their case to the council. The issue wasn’t on the agenda of either meeting.
According to a staff report for Tuesday’s meeting, Walnut Creek police received 42 calls for service at Planned Parenthood on Oakland Blvd., between Jan. 1, 2020 and Nov. 5, 2021. Complaints included verbal and physical harassment and intimidation of patients and blocking sidewalks. There have also been reports of traffic accidents in the area related to distracted driving from pedestrians in the street.
Police say there have been calls from both sides, blaming the other. At least four people have been arrested, one for going inside the clinic and threatening people. A security guard for pro-life group 40 Days for Life was arrested for allegedly pepper spraying people during a protest.
California law guarantees a person’s right to enter a health care facility without obstruction, including for abortion procedures. The staff report points out it’s also “a crime to use force, threat of force, or physical obstruction to, or attempt to, injure, intimidate or interfere” with those working at a clinic.
It’s also a crime to photograph or videotape someone, or distribute material to intimidate patients, within 100 feet of a reproductive health facility. The Walnut Creek protesters have been accused of doing both.
Some California cities, such as San Francisco, Oakland and Napa, have buffer zones further restricting protesters’ proximity to reproductive health care facilities. Some give patients and employees at least eight feet of personal space from protesters. San Francisco prevents protesters from engaging within 25 feet of an entrance, or impeding the entrance.
Tuesday’s report offers the council other options, including extra police patrols in the area, allowing construction of a fence and gate to keep protesters away, or adding extra private security at the site.
The Walnut Creek City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the council chamber, at 1666 North Main Street in Walnut Creek. The meeting can be viewed at www.zoom.us (webinar ID: 848 3425 8845, passcode 360213.
When are they putting up a buffer zone downtown to keep looters out?
Good one!
Restricting the ability to protest is a violation of this Republics’ Constitution.
Threatening and harassing people is deplorable. People should be ashamed.
Abortion is a critical issue that should never be in the hands of politicians.
Personally, I believe abortion is premeditated murder.
Others believe differently.
In a free society responsibility and accountability pay the price of freedom.
People need to be responsible and accountable for their actions.
@Cellophane people walking into abortion clinics are taking control of their lives. You’re entitled to disagree, but then again yo udon’t ever have to get an abortion if you dont want one.
Moving protestors back is not a curtailing of any rights. How silly.
Not big on abortions one way or another although late term abortions I think are murder. I agree with Greg. Someone going into an abortion clinic does not need to be harassed. There is good chance some of them will regret their decision later. Thats life.
Greg
I read your comment.
Sanctimonious is the only word that comes to mind.
Your photo should be included with the definition.
Simple in force the law.But no let’s make a big ordeal out of this.To many other important issues to deal with.This World is headed for hell.
They’ll provide special buffers for protests against baby killers but leftist mobs can destroy communities without recourse as we’ve seen – people are waking up to the hypocrisy but feel powerless against a growing police state.
Exactly. Anything to promote the anti-life agenda of the left.
It’s so frustrating seeing nothing being done about the increasing homeless and crime in Walnut Creek, yet they had a proclamation to declare this week “United Against Hate Week” on the latest City Council meeting agenda.
I’m not an advocate for abortion but I do believe under certain circumstances it is necessary.
The city of WC couldn’t buffer an ant colony from invading. The police have been ordered to stand down against any protestors, rioters etc..
Buffer zone is a joke, no one will enforce it.
I have no problem with this if the intent is to create buffer zone around ALL businesses. in WC. I would love to be able to go downtown and shop or eat a restaurants without worrying about protestors. The problem is, it’s only the favored businesses that get protected.
Until recently, most demonstrations required a permit. Agree/disagree, the rules need to be consistent for everyone. As for abortion(s), what females need to acknowledge is there’s no question innocent life is being terminated…what males need to acknowledge is they have zero control over it.
Another protected class: those who murder babies.
Maybe PP is located in a not so great area for their work? It’s a tight space that’s surrounded by offices, apartments, and other service folks. There’s limited parking on the street and on private property. Perhaps PP should look at a site more conducive to their needs and those of their neighbors?
Planned Parenthood is about planning pregnancies or preventing pregnancies with birth control. They also help women with various health issues. Providing abortion information is 2% of what they do. Yet these protestors harass everyone trying to enter a clinic under the false impression they might want an abortion.
The definition of the beginning of life at conception is a religious one, not a scientific one. Therefore this decision belongs in the realm of one’s church and not in the laws of a secular nation.
So what do you have to say about PP only have 2% of abortions…
The former head of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Leana Wen was forced to part ways with the “women’s health” provider because she did not promote abortion enough in public interviews, according to Wen’s new book, “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”
The organization also wanted Wen to use a miscarriage she suffered just before she left her post at Planned Parenthood as her public excuse for stepping down after just nine months with the organization, according to Business Insider.
“On her first full day on the job as Planned Parenthood’s president, Dr. Leana Wen appeared on ABC’s ‘The View’ to talk about her vision for the organization,” Business Insider detailed based on Wen’s book. “When the segment wrapped, Wen, who’d left her role as Baltimore’s health commissioner for the gig, was elated that it had resonated with the live, cheering audience. But her new colleagues at Planned Parenthood’s headquarters were not: Wen had failed to say the word ‘abortion.’”
In fact, Wen says she was expected by Planned Parenthood to promote abortion, which the clinic chain claims makes up just 3% of its services, every time she appeared in public. If she failed to say the word, “abortion” in interviews or mention the service, she was accused of further stigmatizing the procedure.
“Dr. Leana Wen was given an ultimatum: Change her strategy as president of Planned Parenthood, or leave,” the outlet noted. “The emergency physician and former Baltimore health commissioner had tried to position the organization as a nonpartisan healthcare institution, but its board wanted to double down on its progressive, pro-abortion advocacy.”
“You need to talk about abortion at every media interview,” Wen says she was told by a Planned Parenthood staffer. “You’re the president of Planned Parenthood. People expect that from you. Not saying ‘abortion’ sounds as if you’re ashamed of it.”
“If we don’t talk about abortion openly, loudly, and proudly, as a positive moral good, then we are further stigmatizing it and the people who need it,” Wen claimed she was told.
Wen believed that Planned Parenthood should approach the issue of abortion with more care, believed using “pro-abortion” language alienated people whose decision to get one was painful, and that Planned Parenthood could be more attuned to people whose views on abortion were “nuanced,” and focus more on the abortion provider’s other services.
What ultimately led to Wen’s departure was the realization that Planned Parenthood was more concerned with its political advocacy than providing actual health care to women.
‘Wen said, ultimately, the tension between her and those around her wasn’t just about abortion but about politics,” Business Insider noted. “Planned Parenthood sees itself as a liberal advocacy organization, outspoken on issues loosely related to healthcare, like net neutrality, defunding the police, and DC’s statehood, she wrote.”
“I was given a choice: change, or leave,” she said.
Just close it down. problem solved.
You gonna adopt those hundreds of thousands of unwanted children?
@Mike
So, you are okay with roughly 30,101,275 babies being killed in the last 25 years. This is the real American genocide. We are aborting this generation and future generations into extinction.
@Mike I have an idea, why don’t YOU deal with the problem YOU caused without taking an innocent life?
Ca to TX: The issue of abortion is not as simple as you are making it. It is a complex issue. I am not PRO abortion, I think it is awful, but as a society- are we equipped to take care of all those children? Not everyone SHOULD be reproducing, but we can’t stop that…. Look at our foster system. There is so much hypocrisy on the right.. who seem to care so much about babies until they exit the womb- then … you’re just another leech on society. Many on the right don’t want LGBT people to adopt, don’t want sex education taught in schools or condoms handed out to high school kids (and you EXPECT THERE TO BE NO PREGNANCIES??? ) the list goes on.
Abortion is sad. Abortion is ugly. Nobody “WANTS” an abortion as if it’s some kind of extra curricular activity. Morally, abortion is wrong- but our government should not impose restrictions on women’s access to health care. No argument you can ever tell me will convince me otherwise.
Some of you don’t have a friggin clue…
There are about 2 million couples currently waiting to adopt a child in the United States!
As many as 36 waiting families for every one child who is placed up for adoption!
I know people who have traveled to Central America to adopt a child…. they were afraid they’d never get to adopt in the USA.
Some abortions are medically necessary, or understandably needed in cases of rape or incest….those that aren’t, must be performed for reasons that I can’t imagine…. what could be so devastating that it would be more important …… than saving the life of a child?
Many who can’t have children are desperately wanting to adopt them…. such a waste of life, love & happiness….
But hey! no stretchmarks!
1) If we want to talk about “violating my HIPPAA rights” for asking if people are vaccinated, then we need to protect people who are walking into ANY healthcare facility. Walking in and yelling and taking photograph of people going into a healthcare facility is a MAJOR concern, generally.
2) All of this weird scare-talk about people getting fired for not “encouraging” abortion? I’ve been pregnant three times — one abortion, one live birth, and one miscarriage that I wanted to keep, and NOT ONCE did Planned Parenthood encourage me to have an abortion. They took MY choice and helped me achieve what I needed from them. This has been my experience and the experience of the other women I know who have had abortions (and trust me — there are a LOT more women around you who have had abortions, and most of them go on to raise children with the right partners under the right circumstances.)
3) I’ve only ever had one job that just GAVE me insurance as part of my employment, and one job that did but had awful women’s health coverage. Planned Parenthood has provided me with reproductive and women’s healthcare for YEARS when other wouldn’t. For me, they’ve prevented more unwanted pregnancies than the one they ended.
Great post, Jessica. Thank you for sharing.
You should feel shame for murdering your child.
I drive by the PP in Walnut Creek frequently. When the protesters are there, it’s usually just old people saying the Rosary together or just standing there. If the riots in 2020 were “mostly peaceful protests”, how can you oppose these people just standing there?
Great post, Jessica! I have also had an abortion, at age 16, and never once in my life regretted it for even a moment. What kind of life could I have offered that child at such a young age? I saved that embryo (and let’s be very clear, it was an embryo, not a baby) from a lifetime of poverty and not having its needs met.
Thank you for your honesty and bravery.
By all means, let us celebrate your choice of birth control !
Why would anyone want to endure a pregnancy & birth just to let the baby be adopted?
Too bad we can’t get an opinion from an aborted child to see how he/she felt about it.
Food 4 thought comment:
I personally am “pro choice” – but was born before Roe v/s Wade.
Many of us born during the “counter cultural movement” in the 1960’s were unplanned (even unwanted). I’ve noticed this trend in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
I drew a kind of “conclusion” – that those of us unplanned / unwanted (foster, adopted, or raised alongside with dysfunctional adults) – are extremely resiliant, creative, and pro-active.
Generational hardships CAN lead to a super resiliant personality type – (resistant to brain washing, MSM “programming) – with street smarts, survival skills, and basic common sense.
This type of personality has existed throughout time – we can even “compare and contrast” our little group with our depression era grandparents (who were able to survive and even thrive in very dire conditions). Steinbeck “Grapes of Wrath” comes to mind.
Without this kind of resiliant “can do” personality – is it possible that we are now at a great disadvantage?
Babies born POST Roe v/s Wade were really wanted – (or are part of a greater group that includes being parented by multiple adults(.
This is neither good or bad – it’s just a different kind of family – but these families have unmet needs.
The unwanted are just canceled now – and we do not know what the effects of that might be.
We need