Albin Rhomberg

{{Short description|American activist}}

Albin Rhomberg is an American anti-abortion activist and physicist based in Sacramento, California.

In 1978, while Rhomberg was a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, he joined students Susan Erzinger and Peggy Pattonin in refusing to pay a student registration fee that financed an insurance plan that had provisions for health services including pregnancy counseling and abortion. After the students were denied registration materials they filed a complaint in San Diego County Superior Court against the University's regents.{{cite news|last1=Stoner|first1=Dave|title=Reg fee funded abortion okayed|url=http://ucispace.lib.uci.edu/bitstream/handle/10575/6472/19780509.pdf?sequence=1|work=New University|date=May 9, 1978|page=5|volume=10|number=37}}{{cite book|last1=Noonan|first1=John Thomas|title=A Private Choice: Abortion in America in the Seventies|date=1979|publisher=Free Press|location=New York|isbn=0-02-923160-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/privatechoiceabo00noon}}{{cite journal|title=Student lawsuit|journal=The Human Life Review|date=1978|volume=4|page=84|publisher=Human Life Foundation}}

In 1982 Rhomberg broke into the Los Angeles County Coroner's office to photograph aborted fetuses who were seized during a raid on an abortion clinic, Inglewood Women's owned by Morton Barke.{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Warren Cole|title=The tipping point?|url=http://www.worldmag.com/2015/07/the_tipping_point|work=WORLD News Group|date=July 24, 2015}} He later led pickets at abortion clinics in Sacramento{{cite book|last1=Marx|first1=Paul|title=Confessions of a Prolife Missionary|url=https://archive.org/details/confessionsofpro00marx|url-access=registration|date=1988|publisher=Human Life International|location=Gaithersburg, Maryland|isbn=1-55922-020-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/confessionsofpro00marx/page/332 332]}} and became director the Center for Documentation of the American Holocaust.{{cite book|last1=Marx|first1=Paul|title=Apostle of Life|date=1991|publisher=Human Life International|location=Gaithersburg, Maryland|isbn=1-55922-029-5|page=67}}

Rhomberg was among eight protesters who disrupted an ecumenical prayer service held as part of the inauguration of California Governor Pete Wilson on January 6, 1991. The protesters denounced Wilson's pro-choice stance at the Sacramento's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and were placed under citizen's arrest before being booked at Sacramento County Jail.{{cite news|last1=Beyette|first1=Beverly|title=Abortion Protesters Disrupt Inaugural Church Ceremony|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-07-mn-5890-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 7, 1991}}{{cite news|last1=Clifton|first1=Eli|last2=Marcotte|first2=Amanda|title=Who's Behind the Planned Parenthood Sting Video? Troy Newman—and Other Rabid Anti-Choicers|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/whos-behind-the-planned-parenthood-sting-video-troy-newman-and-other-rabid-anti-choicers/|work=The Nation|date=July 16, 2015}} Rhomberg later sued Governor Wilson and others, alleging that his arrest violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights.{{cite web|title=Albin A. Rhomberg v. Pete Wilson, et al.|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/108/339/640154/|website=Justia US Law|publisher=U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 108 F.3d 339 (9th Cir. 1997)|accessdate=August 4, 2015}}

Rhomberg was campaign spokesman for California Proposition 85 in 2006. The proposition sought to require parental notification and a 48-hour waiting period for anyone under 18 seeking an abortion.{{cite news|last1=Gordon|first1=Rachel|title=CAMPAIGN 2006 / PROPOSITION 85 / Parental notification for abortion back on ballot / Voters rejected a similar measure in election last fall|url=http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/CAMPAIGN-2006-PROPOSITION-85-Parental-2486240.php|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 9, 2006}} During the campaign Rhomberg argued that telephone recordings created by Life Dynamics "prove pretty unequivocally that Planned Parenthood is protecting men who sexually abuse children."{{cite news|last1=Mieszkowski|first1=Katharine|title=Abortion foes' dirty tactics|url=http://www.salon.com/2006/11/04/parental_notification/|work=Salon|date=November 4, 2006}} In 2008 he was a principal advisor for the California Proposition 4 campaign, which had the same goal.{{cite news|title=California judge OKs underage abortion horror stories for voter information pamphlet|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/13491/california-judge-oks-underage-abortion-horror-stories-for-voter-information-pamphlet|work=Catholic News Agency|date=August 11, 2008}} Both measures failed. In 2011 Rhomberg was the spokesperson for the Parental Notification Initiative Campaign.{{cite news|last1=De Brito|first1=Deia|title=New initiative aims to restrict teen access to abortion|url=http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/new-initiative-aims-restrict-teen-access-abortion-8652|work=California Watch|date=February 14, 2011|access-date=August 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085448/http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/new-initiative-aims-restrict-teen-access-abortion-8652|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}

Rhomberg currently serves on the board of the Center for Medical Progress along with David Daleiden and Troy Newman.