The Summit Women's Center Protest of 1989: Connecticut's Modern Clash over Women's Rights

On Saturday, April 1, 1989, anti-abortion protestors blocked the entrance of Summit Women's Center West, a clinic that provided medical services for women, including abortions, in the Professional Building at 345 North Main Street or “Bishop's Corner” in West Hartford, Connecticut. Abortion opponents had peacefully picketed against the clinic on nearby streets for years, but the April 1989 event marked the first time that protestors entered Summit's building. Sixty-one arrests resulted. Then, on June 17, 1989, a larger crowd of people—some wearing Operation Rescue caps and t-shirts—stormed Summit Women's Center, occupied its offices and disrupted its operation, this time causing 261 arrests. In defense, the Town of West Hartford, soon joined by Summit Women's Center itself, filed suit in U.S. District Court in Hartford to enjoin twenty organizations or individuals from further interfering with the Summit clinic's services. The resulting court case known as Town of West Hartford v. Operation Rescue, et al. illuminates the political and legal battle over women's reproductive freedoms that persisted in Connecticut and the nation during the years after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973).1 That court case also reveals the distinctively modern pattern of social conflict that shaped women's reproductive politics in the 1980s and 1990s, and the difficulty that legal and political institutions had in resolving it. A socially liberal state by this time, Connecticut enacted one of the nation's strongest abortion rights laws in the wake of the Summit controversy. Yet, the West Hartford case itself ended not by vindicating women's reproductive freedoms as such, but by defining rules for abortion clinic protests, rules that still exist today.The Summit protest marked Connecticut's episode of an important national story, the tidal wave of abortion clinic protests that swept across the country from 1987 to 1993. Consequently it brightly reflected the distinctive social and political dynamics of the modern era. For one thing, the Summit protest illustrated the modern reorientation of out-of-doors politics. Before the 1970s, street protests had usually involved liberal and even left-wing political outsiders like IWW speakers, woman suffrage marchers, labor union picketers, civil rights sit-in demonstrators, and anti-Vietnam War protesters. These groups challenged entrenched legal authorities who used disorderly conduct ordinances, nuisance and trespass laws, and especially court injunctions to stifle disruptive out-of-door political expression. By the 1960s and early 1970s, however, New Deal programs, civil rights legislation, President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions largely accommodated liberal protestors’ demands, including women's right to abortions. Trade unionists, racial minorities and feminist women acquired institutionally sanctioned rights to defend.2Subsequently, in the 1970s and 1980s, dramatic social, economic and political changes ushered in a new pattern of street politics as part of that era's “culture wars.” The Great Society's divisiveness, liberalizing sexual mores, gender role changes and economic dislocations all shattered the old liberal New Deal Democratic political coalition. In its wake, conservatives mobilized against the supposed excesses of the welfare state and the 1960s cultural revolution in anti-busing, anti-tax, anti-Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and anti-abortion rallies. Simultaneously, long-submerged economic conservatives linked up with social conservatives, forging the new Republican political majority that elected Ronald Reagan as president in 1980. Reagan's political triumph, however, did not signal victory for conservative social values. As historian Robert Collins observes, “While politics turned right in the 1980s, American culture accelerated its movement, already begun in the 1960s, in a leftward direction.” Conservatives won in the electoral arena, but liberal social values persisted in mainstream public opinion, public policy, law and legal institutions, especially in northeastern urban-industrial states like Connecticut. Frustrated, social conservatives turned to street politics.3Social conservatives’ entry into out-of-door protests signaled a remarkable political role reversal in the modern era, as the Summit protest illustrates. Conservatives co-opted the street tactics of prior liberal causes, while liberals retreated to the traditionally conservative redoubt of law and order, including previously scorned court injunctions. Hence, in West Hartford, clinic protestors mimicked civil disobedience of the 1960s, while the clinic and town imitated traditional conservatives by seeking injunctive relief to secure property rights and public order. All the while, both sides appealed to law and the courts to justify their positions. Yet, at the time, the extent of protestor rights and the availability of legal protection for women's health facilities were both up for grabs—a problem all over the country.4 Characteristic of that moment, legal institutions did not easily resolve new patterns of social conflict.The Summit Women's Center protest also demonstrated the modern dynamics of the women's rights movement. The protest illuminated a later phase of that movement, wherein issues like the ERA and abortion divided women rather than united them around a single vision of women's freedoms. Activists on both sides spurned the old idea of female subordination and articulated womanly concerns about society, family and children, but pro-choice women stressed rights to personal decision making and to medically safe abortions, while anti-abortion women emphasized the duty to preserve human life and to avoid practices that devalued motherhood and procreative sexuality.5 In the Summit protest, women took all sides of the abortion question as clinic administrators, anti-abortion protestors, protest spokespersons, pro-choice counter-demonstrators, feminist organizers, lawyers and clinic occupied on the both the and the and of pro-choice while and for women usually as and protestors at anti-abortion of and were the Summit the of the modern women's rights in the about the of women's abortion rights conflict from abortion or As one the to not on the right to but also to on women's to abortion services and on the extent of protestor rights to that over issues as as the over abortion in Connecticut itself, the abortion clinic a modern phase of the political over women's reproductive freedoms. In the era, Connecticut courts did not the abortion but the enacted anti-abortion in and both who and the women who or in Connecticut also the the of the the Connecticut challenged the against by state political and the The a of state and but in the U.S. Supreme v. Connecticut that the Connecticut law on the of a right of by the U.S. of its a abortion law by and in the American and the for the of Abortion later the Abortion Rights abortion laws in a New Connecticut's however, In the early 1970s, feminist lawyers challenged state abortion in court on an that to Roe v. in New women's by the anti-abortion in U.S. District to v. that law as an of The District Court the but the a new in a by Republican The District Court that law as Roe v. Wade soon On April the U.S. District Court its decisions against Connecticut's anti-abortion and their by the time that Connecticut entered the era, had state from its conservative and it women's reproductive as a state women's rights had to public opinion, state and women's rights in in Connecticut a liberal of women's reproductive previously cultural conservatives in the a political pattern that this modern new in Connecticut's and anti-abortion facilities abortion services up around the in Hartford, and New Connecticut abortions, but an of by and medical up to Summit Women's Center West by Robert in in West Hartford, a for its and of to for to Summit Women's Center West West Hartford and a from Connecticut's of A by a in the clinic to like a modern had a of Women's and about for its female a but modern medical and and By the 1980s, of Summit and while the abortions, around a of an state of to the majority of to in the first of women's against abortion services had begun as soon as Connecticut them in but their over of the On the national the state groups and to In the to protests against and by and also Summit Women's Center West its in the at first as a and and in Connecticut's to and of a to West town and Republican all that an abortion like an the and in like and the while female protestors into to to the however, of the and a right to in of the offices by the one the the at Summit as the conservative electoral politics and liberal social On the one the of the New the of president Ronald of the abortion to Republican and the against the ERA all conservative political On the the U.S. Supreme Court President Reagan abortion to the of at around and public abortion rights in by conservative political abortion opponents protest tactics to culture as a of the by protests in West Hartford that the Summit clinic as a that of to this Abortion one protest a Connecticut Supreme Court decision against the for for at a protestors of Summit's and on the In Summit the clinic as not an abortion but as a medical of clinic and to in the of the and about Summit with a of clinic and In and pro-choice groups to up a to Activists a the Connecticut for and picketed offices in New to Summit clinic after up the of Hartford that of to an abortion a decision that from pro-choice the protests as and the Connecticut's of a clinic protest in Connecticut's women's health soon of protests, as by and New Operation Rescue and an of anti-abortion protestors the civil disobedience to and the of and of in that as a to the in this case As this new wave of protestors that abortion a that civil disobedience to it. trespass to a human Summit clinic protestor later the right human new phase of the movement, not a of but also a to and it in a in New Operation Rescue a or a and by and to clinic In the to clinic while it and female on to at were to personal at of time to avoid of at of clinic peacefully at the for and during the These tactics in West on Saturday, April 1, 1989, around protestors of the Professional Building in West Hartford Summit Women's Center Then, while protestors and blocked the entrance and West Hartford Robert later that this from that had the that a involved in an protest the Connecticut had to the clinic to the of and protestors a woman and a protestor a the the protestors and to the to the to the and on but a of them in to including a New The ended at April up controversy. Summit's new later that of abortion to for and that the to of and who it to to the of the Connecticut for that groups had for clinic during the the protest as while and a as that for an for at the clinic and even protestors on the street for by West Hartford of to a that to who up a civil rights protest with and linked to the of the civil rights of in protestors up at the Summit clinic on Saturday, June 17, Summit had a and an of for In the court protestor that about the from and that with family and on the from in New to to to West in Summit's around and as from in Summit's protestors up the of the Professional while a woman as a of the clinic's to a clinic the to protestors in like and the a at in into clinic and on and on their to the clinic and offices in the to and the clinic to to medical and abortion protestors and while female across the street the pro-choice the not the women demonstrators, like and used in and protests, rather than that were protestors and as them protestor a to its protestors legal by of their and in the authorities and to nearby and the that protestors the The event ended at with 261 this and their On the Summit that not protestors with single West Hartford in court that of a a A of in the West Hartford that in New and New in and a from in from to in the movement, a were women and were were with interfering with and were with by in the court case a of from protest to protest, on from and from into West Hartford public and to the as and outsiders who on property rights and public and order. like the against the Robert liberal and in New to women's abortion West Hartford of by outsiders and liberal pro-choice mainstream Connecticut had accommodated liberal cultural values by the and conservative however, the protest as a and to the West Hartford like of New and of Hartford and legal at the Summit and joined protest in of on the protest West from New picketed New West Hartford as and West Hartford to of the civil rights the Connecticut its role for Summit and its to involved by new about conservatives’ to clinic by them to civil rights protest by the April and June Summit clinic and their at to in and and town to of protestors state to West Hartford to a court to further a rather legal the time, clinic were a new and of conservative against abortion and women's health to in the country did a court enjoin a As a and clinic with West Hartford filed its to the Hartford it Operation that to injunctions in June 1989, West Hartford a against Operation Rescue, and Summit protestors in the Hartford court of a and Republican known for and to law after to the by President Ronald Reagan in West Hartford a the and Connecticut civil rights and the law of and but a civil rights of the Summit Women's Center and for to West Hartford as in the Summit to as a had to for rights of women to reproductive but that making property rights and public order, not women's abortion the of the relief an by a a to to Hartford and while not in As around the however, West and Summit's of an to and to the of laws and The West Hartford case on over years and with the public over abortion In the first phase from 1989 to West Hartford an of the to the protestors an that in a of to the of as by of the That in their to the abortion the protestors clinic property and to of West public further that the protestors’ an that to trespass on Summit clinic female clinic of their civil and the town from the its and the public with the court to enjoin the from or Summit clinic while them to in this first phase of For one thing, lawyers that linked their to or conduct at the April or June as had to with Operation Rescue and caps by protestors about that and of the of the For thing, court by that their had with of the and by to them as In one dramatic of in a of the April protest, that in the as an in court to in the a in the to in that to the and around about but it over did Operation Rescue as of and did West about even in this first phase that the protestors’ conduct the of protestors in West Hartford Court to the in U.S. District protestors’ as part of the nation's of civil their in of Amendment not the protestors’ of modern conservatives’ of the of liberal social and of the tactics of conservative public law like the Society, the and especially the to the legal and Amendment to conservative causes, including abortion clinic protest in the West Hartford case president of Connecticut the first West a to the to to by protestors to nearby on that in civil disobedience were not for civil The the U.S. Supreme Court had in the civil rights case of v. that a a Amendment As in that it social against from wherein not a but a to one a to that anti-abortion protestors were trespass abortion that than civil rights had this the civil rights and anti-abortion to of the about to up the rights the civil against not in and that twenty years a of civil disobedience in this country the the not that the the and an and that were the civil rights laws not in this on the in the time for civil a of and the that and not with that in the it for to into by By that the that in the of Then, to years the right to that right the right to abortion and Wade still the law of this for years the law of the on Supreme Court the it challenged by it the courts like this to in and that not an that a not the right to the to this to services. brightly the of the of its to a the of property rights rather than women's abortion rights in the first phase of the court In it that the Summit were protests against an as civil rights had that had for an by the U.S. Supreme Court in v. of That from lawyers the civil disobedience and their of the of law against it in and the and also that civil rights from clinic protestors’ and trespass on it like 1960s that civil disobedience not the to court and the of anti-abortion protests at the property or civil Hartford, however, had a problem during this first phase of the case it on the in to of and economic to over to at the time the to its to political protests, but courts the law during the 1980s to a part of the West Hartford The that protestors were part of a to Summit Center by at and in the were not with West Hartford that to on the Court in Women's Center, v. lawyers with the Court decision U.S. v. that to in the U.S. Supreme Court the in v. by that clinic that years the In 1989, up in the for West Hartford and Summit in 1989, on the demonstrated the and the clinic's legal at this On the one that a but of involved in the Summit and that their on clinic property did not Amendment with that conduct as and even were of but that trespass not conduct its the protestors’ of civil On the West Hartford an on legal that did not that law civil not injunctive for and that the protestors’ a state On that the from or to Summit clinic lawyers appealed this decision to the Court of in New in however, that court not to that the did not to West Hartford but also that this of national courts to relief state The West as one West for the anti-abortion protestors to the The first phase of West Hartford ended in and the case to court for further an for abortion rights that Roe v. Wade soon to A that the U.S. Supreme decision in v. in 1989 had states to on abortions, including a in public facilities and a that this decision did not Roe that it The to up abortion rights in socially liberal a dramatic of state abortion that the anti-abortion into Roe were around female and by the for at the state in to for new The event demonstrated the pro-choice by one or in but one of them up to with of For their Connecticut's Democratic turned to the and Democratic state by and and to the and in the for Abortion Rights the while and Republican Robert for in April Connecticut a new abortion rights that women in with their to prior to but to women's and than this law the first of its in the illuminated state pro-choice and Connecticut for abortion around in public Connecticut with liberal cultural of the time and a in U.S. District Court during the of the phase of Town of West Hartford v. Operation Rescue Summit Women's Center as the in this phase from to and used new to an In their Summit and the that protestors had in a to female clinic civil rights the to the the protestors against women as a by their to state to secure abortion and by state in the their of services. The that protestors the clinic's property rights the and that state law by on clinic property and interfering with the clinic's For the however, the case on women's reproductive in this had filed a to the Summit protestors from legal the that protestors laws to to it this American law as not the and new Connecticut legalized abortion on of also against West Hartford for of the of that but that Summit's new for an lawyers that protestors the by women or by on their civil rights and also that the did not to the protests, not also that the property to Summit clinic or to its a for the protestors’ right to in civil civil protests or even of civil the lawyers the with the anti-abortion protestors, on legal a against the on largely to of on entered a against the them from or Summit them from or to clinic and them from or to the civil disobedience this time, injunctive relief on of civil and not or state trespass that abortion a right Roe v. Wade that the and that protestors women by their rights at Summit also that protestors Connecticut law by Summit's Yet, with the that did not protestors had not demonstrated a state trespass Summit did not but its even the of the and The phase of West Hartford women's reproductive rights and health to the Connecticut's that the decision that the protestors were not making their but were women of health courts groups to women's to health as Roe v. even this phase ended in In the Supreme Court in v. Women's that the did not to clinic women seeking were not a the and protestors’ to abortion did not the Court new on April it that to and did not of the in West The the case to the U.S. District Court for further Summit's to on to decision abortion clinic in but the political ushered in a phase of the West Hartford from to The of anti-abortion including a in and a in a political In a of clinic abortion rights the Connecticut Connecticut and Democratic state a the of or to or of protection of the laws, a that abortion clinic In the at over the had from one property and protest rights to one abortion rights against to to a woman from an abortion an on right to to the Connecticut Republican Robert and trespass and laws easily protest and the new to on the part of political West phase to a elected pro-choice as president in and a Democratic enacted the of to with Republican in to clinic protest In the U.S. Supreme Court in v. that the law did after all like clinic West Hartford and Summit had legal to secure injunctive that to rather than women's reproductive freedoms. on April entered a in Town of West Hartford on new protestors from further on Summit property The to and the but that on The Summit protest protests persisted in New and as as in Hartford, Summit Women's Center in the the of at a clinic in and the of Connecticut that Summit and conservatives by Connecticut to public protests like anti-abortion from state and Connecticut the but it law a civil suit by protestors against West Hartford for during the 1989 a the As across the conflict persisted the in Connecticut. The legal right to abortion Roe and Connecticut but a of were a legal As legal and over the rights of the and the clinic as as the over the right to an after did the over clinic protests By that time, the of state and their liberal social and abortion for clinic Activists in Operation to but the Summit Center protest a distinctive legal sides appealed to the of anti-abortion and their emphasized protest As historian observes, anti-abortion protestors were like civil rights women's rights demonstrators, rights and groups on the political and the political to protest, civil and the of as historian abortion opponents the New of Amendment to their conservative West Hartford Summit protestors’ legal were however, in to justify and as protest Summit from of state to West Hartford to Summit's operation, not to their anti-abortion and their lawyers on the of and to abortions, to of civil disobedience to like the Summit protestors used disobedience to public Yet, both to decisions the case v. of and to anti-abortion protestors the abortion rights case Roe v. and protest of anti-abortion protestors on the disruptive practices of the anti-Vietnam War movement. to anti-abortion protestors like to the The protestors who and on at Summit mimicked on Hartford and Summit Women's Center West also legal but in an As political observes, clinic a of rights In West and Summit's this largely from in In the first of the case the West Hartford filed as a and Summit as a on public and property but that in In the Summit civil rights by clinic protestors against women the to the U.S. Supreme Court that in v. in the did West Hartford and Summit this time to Connecticut's pro-choice stressed women's reproductive rights in public and West Hartford and Summit clinic won by civil and property rights in rather than state law this of the Summit protest an important Connecticut's liberal social it to abortion the Connecticut in Connecticut with of and political court the abortion rights and for abortion rights by state pro-choice marked a dramatic from the conservative and anti-abortion the 1960s, but it with national court decisions in and the of a pro-choice and a of northeastern public women's reproductive freedoms all Connecticut in a pro-choice it The by the early 1990s, state Democratic Connecticut's new abortion legislation, including who not to personal the new state Yet, liberal Connecticut not an part of a nation that and to abortion opponents easily state to abortion services in not courts protection to Connecticut's women's health it the U.S. Supreme Court in that to in the West Hartford about women's reproductive the property rights to women's health from and Town of West Hartford marked a for and a victory for pro-choice but both and victory were not a on the right to abortion services or the right to the courts to the rules for anti-abortion protests, to that like and Amendment Summit protest and the Town of West Hartford case marked an early entry in the of legal that in the U.S. Supreme clinic protest in the and early v. Women's Center v. and v. These did not resolve the abortion but that the rules of and pro-choice to protestors had right to their anti-abortion but legal authorities to enjoin protestors with and and to them from on clinic clinic and clinic The in a new for injunctive on conduct like clinic injunctions than to a The new the rights of and clinic against of protestors, that clinic and but that on and to clinic Connecticut's Summit case marked an important in the to this legal to legal rules to conflict over women's reproductive freedoms that still to this