Nation IN BRIEF : NEW JERSEY : Abortion Protesters’ Conviction Upheld

A Superior Court judge in Morristown, N. J., upheld the trespassing convictions of 15 anti-abortion demonstrators. He refused to affirm a municipal judge’s opinion that human life begins at conception. Judge Reginald Stanton dismissed the defendants’ assertion that the unborn enjoy rights of protection under the state and U.S. constitutions. Alexander Loce and 14 other people had forced their way into a Morristown doctor’s office last year and chained themselves together in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Loce’s fiancee from having an abortion. The demonstrators contended that trying to save the life of a fetus justified their breaking the trespassing law. They were convicted of trespassing; the municipal judge in the case, Michael Noonan, said in his decision that abortion is “legal execution.”