Netherlands – “Abortion buddies” to help pregnant women as protesters get more intimidating

“Abortion buddies” to help pregnant women as protesters get more intimidating

By Janene Pieters
on March 2, 2020

From Monday, women visiting abortion clinics in Rotterdam and The Hague can call on an "abortion buddy" to escort them into the clinic and past the anti-abortion protesters often hanging around the clinics. The around 20 volunteers' task is to accompany women as they enter the clinic and be a screen for these already vulnerable women against the protesters, at the initiative of feminism platform De Bovengrondse and the Humanistisch Verbond.

Last year, a majority in the lower house of Dutch parliament supported letting municipalities set up "buffer zones" around abortion clinics in the Netherlands. No anti-abortion protesters should be allowed in these buffer zones, to allow women to enter abortion clinics un-harassed. But a year later, the protests are continuing unabated, and even increasing at some clinics, according to a survey by De Bovengrondse and the Humanistisch Verbond among 11 of the 14 abortion clinics in the Netherlands.

Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2020/03/02/abortion-buddies-help-pregnant-women-protesters-get-intimidating