Abortion Foes

This is the easy part, leaders of the Vote Know Coalition say. By midnight Friday, the anti-abortion organization campaigningto petition Maryland's new abortion law to referendum must deliver its first installment of signatures to the secretary of state."

JACKSON, MISS. -- The mission of the American Coalition of Life Activists is simply this: to drive out of business the lone physician performing abortions at the sole clinic in this state."

Supporters of Maryland's new abortion law warned yesterday that if the statute should fail at referendum, Maryland women would move a step closer to the days of back-alley abortions, with the accompanying risks of infection and death.But a spokeswoman for the Vote kNOw Coalition, which is leading the campaign to defeat the law, called the contention "hysterical and irrelevant."Frederica Mathewes-Green of Vote kNOw said that reports that large numbers of women died of illegal abortions are "an urban myth."

WASHINGTON -- A jury in Houston raised significantly the financial risks for abortion foes who seek to shut down clinics by tacking an extra $1.01 million in damages yesterday onto an initial verdict last week of $204,585.The combined award of $1.21 million is the largest jury verdict ever against clinic blockaders in the wars that rage in courtrooms after angry, sometimes violent confrontations on sidewalks outside abortion facilities.The case was stirred by attempts to close 10 abortion clinics in the Houston area, a campaign that started just before the Republican National Convention in that city in 1992, and continued up to the time of trial.

ANNAPOLIS -- More than 2,500 anti-abortion activists rallied in front of the Maryland State House yesterday and vowed to fight pro-abortion bills, even though they may not have enough votes to win.Police estimated the crowd numbered between 2,500 and 3,000 people. Rally organizers said more than 3,000 attended the candlelight demonstration, which began with a march from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium about half a mile from the State House.Steve Shaneman, director of the Family Protection Lobby, said his group had not decided exactly what its strategy would be this year, but that he hoped to see the introduction of legislation that would be "reasonably restrictive."

Countians will join a rally and candlelight march to the State Housein Annapolis Monday to support anti-abortion legislation."We're asking all pro-life countians to show our new senator and delegates how we feel about the abortion bills they will be voting on," said PatFisher of Finksburg.Marchers will leave Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at 6:30 p.m. and proceed to the State House, where legislators who oppose abortion will present abortion bills for this session.Participants also will hear speeches, sing and pray, said Maria DeCesare, a counselorfor Birthright, a Westminster organization that counsels pregnant women in non-abortion options.

It used to be, in the abortion debate, that abortion opponents centered their argument on the rights of the unborn.But in Maryland this year, anti-abortion campaigners have chosen a theme the other side thought it owned: the rights of women.A new abortion law up for referendum in November would restrict women's rights, not protect them, say the leaders of the Vote kNOw Coalition, which is working to defeat the statute at the polls."I come from a feminist perspective," says Frederica Mathewes-Green, a Vote kNOw spokeswoman.

The temperature had just nosed past 20 degrees in Pasadena yesterday morning, and Michael King had to struggle against a pesky, frigid wind to keep hold of the placard he wore around his neck as he paced along the side of Ritchie Highway."

BOSTON - Emergency contraception is the no-brainer in the abortion controversy. If taken soon enough, it can prevent 80 percent of unwanted pregnancies. Anyone looking to reduce the number of abortions should agree on reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies. There is still no peep from the Food and Drug Administration on putting Plan B, the after-the-act contraceptive, on the drugstore shelf. Still no Plan C, if C stands for the ever-elusive common ground. It's no secret that there's a solid anti-abortion majority in the Congress.

Dubbed a "pro-laugh" comedy by its promoters, "Citizen Ruth" is indeed funny, although the warring factions on the front line of the abortion debate aren't likely to think so. Still, director and co-writer Alexander Payne skewers both sides with his canny satire, and the movie is likely to appeal to that lump of people in opinion polls who are decidedly "undecided."Laura Dern plays Ruth Stoops -- a name that sounds as low as she is -- who is undecided to the point of utter negligence. A "huffer" who gets high off spray paint and other substances best used in well-ventilated areas, she is introduced as she has nearly unconscious sex with a fellow loser while the romantic tones of "All the Way" accompany opening credits.