Standing Between Care and Violence

Abortion-clinic escorts and defenders serve as human shields protecting patients from angry, aggressive protestors. Now, with emboldened extremists and the COVID crisis, they face more danger than ever before.

By Garnet Henderson
Jun 2, 2021

Shelley, an abortion-clinic defender at Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence (CARE) in Bellevue, Nebraska, had a bad feeling on the morning of September 25, 2020. One of those gut bad feelings. It had been a volatile summer. Warmer months typically bring more anti-abortion-rights protesters to clinics, and the groups had been even larger than usual in 2020, likely due to high unemployment rates. By September, the crowds had begun to thin back down to the clinic’s 12 to 14 “regulars.” That morning, one of the regulars was camped out in his usual spot at the base of the clinic’s driveway.

Continued: https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a36061740/abortion-clinic-escorts-defenders-face-violence/

What explains Donald Trump’s war on late-term abortions?

What explains Donald Trump’s war on late-term abortions?
Attacks on the rare but controversial procedures are designed to please more than evangelicals

Aug 22nd 2019

WHILE LEROY CARHART, a doctor who specialises in late-term abortions, was finishing his most recent termination, the manager of his clinic in Bethesda, Maryland, outlined the procedure. Abortions in the second half of pregnancy take between two and four days, said Christine Spiegoski, a nurse wearing a T-shirt that read: “Don’t like abortion? Prevent pregnancy by f**king yourself!” First, the doctor injects potassium chloride or digoxin into the fetus’s heart, killing it within minutes. If he is unable to reach the heart and instead pumps the drug into the amniotic sac, death can take up to 24 hours. Dr Carhart euthanises the fetus at the beginning of the procedure because its tissue and skull then soften and contract, easing removal. At 25 weeks a fetus weighs around a pound and a half and is over a foot long; some of those Dr Carhart aborts are older.

Continued: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/08/22/what-explains-donald-trumps-war-on-late-term-abortions

Panorama, America’s Abortion War: A nuanced look at both sides of the debate

Panorama, America’s Abortion War: A nuanced look at both sides of the debate
Review: A documentary on the fights to keep and outlaw abortion in the US south

July 23, 2019
Ed Power

It’s just over a year since the Eighth Amendment was repealed and the Republic began catching up with most of the rest of the world in terms of access to abortion. Panorama, America’s Abortion War (BBC One) is a reminder of the tumult we have left behind.

Hilary Andersson’s documentary avoids the obvious pitfall of smug Europeans lecturing Bible-thumping Americans on how to run their affairs. Instead, this is a nuanced overview of an issue that serves as a prism for the US’s culture wars. Campaigners on both sides obviously regard abortion as a matter of black and white. Andersson’s mission is to interrogate the myriad of greys she discerns in the middle.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/panorama-america-s-abortion-war-a-nuanced-look-at-both-sides-of-the-debate-1.3964688

USA – Anti-Abortion Activists Tried To Shut Him Down. One Year Later, His Clinic Is Thriving.

Anti-Abortion Activists Tried To Shut Him Down. One Year Later, His Clinic Is Thriving.
Dr. LeRoy Carhart is one of the last providers in the country who perform later abortions.

By Catherine Pearson, HuffPost US
Oct 30, 2018

Last summer, the staff at Germantown Reproductive Health Service in Maryland, one of three remaining clinics in the U.S. where women were able to get third-trimester abortions, got surprising news.

Todd Stave, the owner of the clinic — who inherited it along with another facility from his OB-GYN father — had sold it. Although Stave had previously reassured clinic staff he would give them plenty of notice before a sale, staffers were told they would have to stop seeing patients the following week.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/anti-abortion-activists-tried-to-shut-him-down-one-year-later-his-clinic-is-thriving_us_5bc4cce8e4b01a01d68d508e

These clinics used to provide abortions. Now they are owned by antiabortion activists. Here’s what it reveals about the state of reproductive rights These clinics used to provide abortions. Now they are owned by antiabortion activists.

These clinics used to provide abortions. Now they are owned by antiabortion activists.
Here’s what it reveals about the state of reproductive rights

Rebecca Grant
September 19, 2018

Debra Choat stood in the National Memorial for the Unborn in Chattanooga, Tenn., a space that used to be an abortion clinic.

Granite slabs cover the wall. Each plate is inscribed with the name of a “baby lost to abortion,” said Choat. Some of the plates have full names inscribed on them while others have a first name. Some have a last name or just “Our Little Angel.”

On a mantel below the wall rest dozens of stuffed animals, letters and toys left by visitors.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/these-clinics-used-to-provide-abortions-now-they-are-owned-by-antiabortion-activists/

Clergy gather to bless one of the only U.S. clinics performing late-term abortions

Clergy gather to bless one of the only U.S. clinics performing late-term abortions
By Julie Zauzmer
January 29, 2018

When clergy gather at an abortion clinic, it’s usually in protest, outside the building.

Rarely are they huddled inside the clinic, not to condemn but to bless the procedures that happen there.

Yet that was the Rev. Carlton Veazey’s task as he led a prayer in Bethesda on Monday. “God of grace and God of glory, in whom we move and live,” he said, as he opened a prayer for the well-being of the doctor and nurses who facilitate abortions at a clinic here and for their patients. “Keep them safe and keep them strong. And may they always know that all that they do is for Thy glory.”

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/01/29/clergy-gather-to-bless-an-abortion-clinic-which-provides-rare-late-term-abortions-in-bethesda/?utm_term=.71ca310a28a6