Harman Still Wants a Meeting to Discuss Abortion Protests : Rights: She says she wants to support doctors and defuse potential violence. An abortion opponent says congresswoman appears to be trying to silence picketers.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) says she still plans to meet with South Bay doctors worried about anti-abortion protesters, even though a session slated for Friday was canceled out of concern that it would trigger more protests.

Harman said she called that meeting after a local doctor wrote her a letter describing how some physicians have experienced “harassment” from abortion foes.

“I think it’s absolutely critical for the community to stand up for them,” said Harman, who stressed her support for abortion rights when campaigning for Congress last year.

The time and place for Harman’s meeting remain uncertain. But in attempting to arrange such a session, which is to include law enforcement officials, Harman stepped into the middle of an ongoing debate over anti-abortion protesters picketing the homes and offices of local doctors who they claim perform abortions.

Local doctors have grown increasingly concerned about such picketing since the shooting death of a Florida doctor outside a clinic during an anti-abortion protest in March.

Harman’s comments were criticized Friday by J. T. Finn, director of the South Bay Pro-Life Coalition, who called her “an advocate of baby killing” and said she appeared to be trying to silence abortion foes.

“This community doesn’t need those sorts of leaders advocating child killing, and protecting businesses that profit from child killing,” Finn said.

In the South Bay, the debate escalated April 10 when about 150 protesters with Operation Rescue picketed outside a doctor’s home in Palos Verdes Estates.

Operation Rescue says it has acquired the names and addresses of 10 other physicians who it claims perform abortions. The group says it plans to picket some or all of those doctors’ homes on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Most of the doctors are Torrance obstetricians, and some say that abortion accounts for only a small part of their practice. One doctor, who asked for anonymity, said Thursday that the physicians have felt isolated.

“We haven’t seen much public support,” he said.

The Friday meeting with Harman was to include 16 local doctors and representatives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the county district attorney’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office, as well as elected officials from several cities on the peninsula. But the meeting was canceled Thursday afternoon, with a Harman spokesman citing concern over anti-abortion pickets.

Explaining why she called the meeting, Harman said: “I want to hear from law enforcement about their recommendations, and to discuss a community strategy . . . to figure out how to prevent and defuse any violent activity.”

Harman said that while she supports freedom of expression, she is concerned if a protest intimidates people and “poses harm to persons and their property.”

Harman is a co-sponsor of a House bill known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which would make it a federal crime to blockade health-care clinics.

Harman said that during a campaign bicycle trip last fall, she encountered anti-abortion protesters who carried graphic posters and insulted her. After that experience, she said she feels some empathy with the doctors.

Harman also singled out “Wanted” flyers distributed by South Bay abortion foes that carry the photos of targeted doctors.

“I think they are menacing, and I think they generate a climate of fear,” Harman said.

Representatives of Operation Rescue and the South Bay Pro-Life Coalition said Friday that their organizations have discontinued using the “Wanted” posters, in part because they want to avoid any implication that they are advocating violence.

Sue Finn, J. T. Finn’s sister and a spokeswoman for Operation Rescue of California, encouraged Harman to include abortion foes in her discussions.

“She can invite us to that meeting, because we agree . . . we don’t want any violence. We encourage people to be peaceful and loving in their educational efforts. I think we all agree on that.”

But if Harman’s goal is to silence anti-abortion protesters, Finn said, “That’s where we see differently.”

She described her group’s goal as educating the community through the peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights.