Abortion clinic's closing brings relief in Dobbs Ferry

By ROBERT MARCHANT
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 9, 2002)

DOBBS FERRY — A familiar ritual is coming to an end in Dobbs Ferry, and no one is particularly sad to see this chapter of village history come to a close.

Wednesday mornings and Saturday mornings have been days of protest in front of the Women's Medical Pavilion on Ashford Avenue, an abortion clinic where clusters of anti-abortion demonstrators stood vigil, prayed, marched and held signs. They also blocked access to the clinic with chains and bicycle locks, leading to mass arrests in the late 1980s and early 1990s that put a severe strain on the village's police and courts.

The furor and hostility the clinic aroused were an unwelcome intrusion on village life, local residents say, and they are expecting the collective blood pressure of the community to drop a bit when the clinic closes its doors at the end of the week after two decades.

Yesterday was the last time Ed Dombrowski was planning to drive his Honda from Poughkeepsie to Dobbs Ferry to join the protests, a roughly 90-minute trip the retired IBM engineer has taken almost every week for the past eight years or so.

"I got here whenever I could. I considered it a moral obligation,'' said Dombrowski, loading a homemade sign with a picture of the Virgin Mary holding a baby into his car for his last drive home from Dobbs Ferry. He was among 10 protesters outside the clinic yesterday.

"I figure this is the last time I would come here,'' said Dombrowski, and he was looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren and cutting down on his weekly gasoline costs — while still picketing abortion clinics in the Poughkeepsie area.

Dombrowski, a World War II veteran with a friendly demeanor, won't be missed in Dobbs Ferry.

Many residents are happy that the furor that clinic aroused will fade into memory. The village had long tired of marchers on Ashford Avenue and the controversy surrounding the clinic's operation, a furor that brought a national battle to the sidewalks of this village of 10,000.

In addition to the abortion demonstrations, protesters also came out in force during the late 1990s at a delicatessen where a youth counselor, Charles Campbell, was shot and killed in a dispute over a parking space by an off-duty New York City police officer, Richard DiGuglielmo, in 1996. Ashford Avenue was at times bookended by demonstrations, giving Dobbs Ferry more protesters per capita than probably any other other small town in the Northeast, and the appearance of a place riven by hostilities.

The closing of the clinic was a relief for the community, said Mayor Brian Monahan, regardless of one's views on abortion.

"I've talked to a lot of people in the community, and I haven't heard anyone say they're sad to see it closed.'' Monahan said yesterday. "We like it when it's quiet.''

The clinic and the hostility it aroused put a drain on the village's resources, but it also brought a stressful aspect to village life.

"It was a national issue being played out in a small little village,'' the mayor said. "It had such an impact on people's lives. It will be nice to pass by that location and and not see protesters and police, not wonder when the next major demonstration is coming.''

Celeste Meneses, a Dobbs Ferry travel agent active in the business community who lives near the clinic, won't have good memories about the protests that brought hundreds of people to her neighborhood.

"It was strange to have an 8-foot-tall grim reaper standing in front of your door,'' recalled Meneses, "It was very aggressive. They were in your face.''

Meneses said the protests became much quieter and smaller around 1996, when the national anti-abortion campaign redirected its forces and removed Dobbs Ferry from its sights.

But the biweekly spectacle of the demonstrators in front of the clinic was always an uncomfortable one in the neighborhood, she said, especially when her young nieces and nephews came to visit.

"I think it's a relief,'' said Lisa Omboni, a local real estate broker. She found the tactics used by the demonstrators off-putting and abrasive.

"It was such an unnecessary scene every Saturday, the marching, the chanting. That nonsense was ridiculous. I'm glad it's over,'' she said.

Paul Golio, manager of the Louisiana Cajun Cafe, put it simply: "It was a real pain.''

Anti-abortion activists are set to stage a final vigil on Ashford Avenue on Saturday evening.

Calls to the clinic were not returned.