A San Francisco lawmaker said she would propose legislation Tuesday to strengthen protections for reproductive health care facilities and their patients from anti-abortion activists.
The activists have become increasingly fervent and at times menacing, said Ruth Nunez, senior center director of Planned Parenthood Northern California.
“Just this week, I just had to call the police — somebody came in intimidating our staff, brandishing a gun,” Nunez said during an Oct. 1 hearing to consider increased funding for security personnel at the facility.
The proposal comes as voters consider Proposition O, on the November ballot, which would safeguard access to abortion and reproductive care in San Francisco.
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter for coverage on how local lawmakers’ decisions affect you.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, San Francisco reproductive care providers have seen an increase in anti-abortion protests that crossed legally imposed boundaries and even threatened violence, Nunez said.
San Francisco prohibits anti-abortion protesters from entering an 8-foot buffer zone around reproductive health care facilities. But District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who authored the legislation and represents the area containing the city’s Planned Parenthood facility, said protesters routinely break that law while demonstrating in front of the building.
“I drive by there sometimes and I see how close they are, I call in and like, ‘Why isn’t anyone doing anything?’” Stefani said. “Sometimes I feel like it’s allowed if it’s not getting too out of hand. Or we have a staffing shortage in our police department so it’s not always a priority.”
The San Francisco Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Images on anti-abortion group Pro-Life SF’s website and social media posts appear to show protesters gathering within the buffer zone, and videos show Melanie Salazar, executive director, taunting staff at the clinic’s entrance.
Pro-Life SF stated in an email that it is unclear whether the buffer zones are legal, based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision made 10 years ago. That decision upheld a challenge to a Massachusetts regulation making it a crime to stand within 35 feet of a reproductive health care facility. Anti-abortion activists said the restriction impeded their ability to conduct “sidewalk counseling.” The Supreme Court agreed, saying the act violated the First Amendment because it “burdens substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government’s legitimate interests.”
Stefani’s proposed legislation would direct the police department to meet with health care facility representatives upon request and require officers to receive training each year on local and state laws regulating protester behavior at those facilities.
It would also mandate that amplified sound be at least 100 feet from reproductive care facilities, or twice the current required distance. And impersonating health care or volunteer workers would be designated harassment.
San Francisco must stand up to anti-abortion activists, said Kimberly Ellis, director of the city’s Department on the Status of Women, at the October hearing.
“Ultimately, what this is about is the anti-choice extremists pushing the envelope, testing our mettle to see where San Francisco will stand as it relates to increased hostility, aggression and intimidation toward women,” Ellis said.
The proposed regulations follow the September passage of a state law, Assembly Bill 2099, which made it a felony to violate the California Freedom of Access to Clinics and Church Entrances Act. The act, passed in 2001, made it a misdemeanor to intimidate, threaten or injure patients entering reproductive health clinics, with the worst offenders facing up to a year in jail or maximum fines of $50,000.
Editor’s note (10/25/2024): This story was updated with a comment from group Pro-Life SF, and to say that the San Francisco Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
