HUNTINGTON BEACH — A divided City Council responded to complaints about anti-abortion protesters by passing a new law early Tuesday that prohibits the picketing of individual homes.
The law was presented as an emergency ordinance--effective immediately--because of concerns some council members had about the safety of a Huntington Beach doctor whose home has been targeted recently by anti-abortion picketers.
"I think (picketing of homes) is a serious problem," said Councilwoman Linda Moulton-Patterson, who sponsored the ordinance. "I think someone could get hurt."
The council approved the ordinance 5-2 early Tuesday morning near the end of a 5 1/2-hour meeting Monday night. The vote makes Huntington Beach the seventh local government in the state and the third in Orange County to pass such an anti-picketing law.
The new city law here is modeled after one enacted in Tustin earlier this month. A similar law is in place in Santa Ana.
Moulton-Patterson described the action as "a civil rights law" designed to protect anyone from harassment at their home. But she acknowledged that the concerns about abortion protesters and the related picketing of a Huntington Beach doctor's home had prompted her concern.
Councilmen Jim Silva and David Sullivan, who voted against the ordinance, complained that it was being rushed through without adequate study.
They noted that a regular ordinance is passed only after two readings and a 30-day waiting period. Moulton-Patterson's proposal, by contrast, was immediately passed into law because it was drafted as emergency legislation.
"I find it hard to consider emergency legislation when there's only one case (of residential picketing) in Huntington Beach," Silva said.
Moulton-Patterson said that picketers have come to the doctor's home at least three times, although she did not identify the physician.
Dr. David J. Keulan, however, said in a recent interview that his Huntington Beach home and Garden Grove medical office both have been picketed by an anti-abortion organization. Keulan also said his name has been included on "wanted" posters similar to those issued earlier this year for a Florida doctor who was subsequently murdered.
Dr. David Gunn was shot to death March 1 outside a Pensacola, Fla., medical clinic that performed abortions. An anti-abortion activist was arrested and charged with the killing.
