UPDATED: Carhart Aniversary Marked by Protest

(Updated 2: 25 p.m.) An estimated 1,000 people attended an anti-abortion rally Monday morning outside the clinic of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, Montgomery County Police said.

“It went peacefully without any major incidents,” 5th District Cmd. Luther Reynolds told Patch.

Reynolds said most people dispersed once the two-hour rally wrapped at 10 a.m.

The rally marked the one-year anniversary of Carhart’s arrival. He’s one of the few doctors who openly performs late-term abortions.

Reynolds said abortion opponents have planned another event Saturday night.

The Archdiocese of Washington plans to lead a procession to the clinic after a 5 p.m. mass at Mother Seaton Parish on Father Hurley Boulevard, delivered by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, said spokeswoman Brie Hall.

Hall said the procession will start around 6:15 p.m.

Reynolds said police don’t anticipate any problems.

(Original) Anti-abortion opponents gathered outside Germantown Reproductive Health Services on Monday in protest of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, who performs late-term abortions.

The morning rally was tied to the one-year anniversary of Carhart’s arrival at the Germantown clinic, rally organizers Maryland Coalition for Life told The Gazette.

The demonstration coincides with recent news that the Maryland Board of Physicians closed its investigation into Carhart. The complaint was filed by Operation Rescue, who claimed Carhart didn’t mention he would be performing late-term abortions when he applied for his Maryland license, The Washington Post reported.

The Germantown clinic has been the focal point of the broader abortion debate ever since Carhart announced plans to establish an office here, starting with refreshed efforts to introduce a state law banning abortions in late pregnancy, .

There have been  anti-abortion protests outside the office, including a  in January, whose timing was meant to coincide with the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  Maryland Coalition for Life started renting out a space across the street from the Germantown clinic in March.

In August, came the Summer of Mercy 2.0/Celebration of Choice, a week of anti-abortion rallies and counter rallies in support of abortion rights outside the clinic.

But the protests may have reached an inflection point in September, when a small group of anti-abortion protestors targeted the school of the clinic’s landlord’s child. Anti-abortion group Defend Life has said it organized the school protest. 

Maryland Coalition for Life said in a statement that it did not support protests targeting the landlord’s child’s school.

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