USA – Abortion Clinics Don’t Want Demonstrators Around, Even If They’re Pro-Choice

Abortion Clinics Don't Want Demonstrators Around, Even If They're Pro-Choice
Inside the fight taking place at U.S. clinics.

by Rebecca Grant
Jul 9 2019

As an abortion rights advocate in a state trying to ban abortion, Helmi Henkin isn't usually in the position of turning away support.

Henkin chairs of the clinic escort program for West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, one of the three abortion clinics left in Alabama, and formerly lead communications for The Yellowhammer Fund, the only statewide abortion fund. In May, an anti-abortion protester tried to run over a WAWC escort in the parking lot with an SUV. One week later, Governor Kay Ivey signed an extreme abortion ban into law and, since then, Alabama has been in the national spotlight as a harbinger of what’s to come. Henkin has found that since the law’s signing, pro-choice advocates across the country feel an urgency to do something about it. Some send money, while others want to protect abortion clinics in a more physical way.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xzjjk/what-is-abortion-clinic-defense


USA – Abortion Clinics Are Annoyed by Protesters. Pro-Choice Protesters.

Abortion Clinics Are Annoyed by Protesters. Pro-Choice Protesters.
By defying the clinics’ wishes, the protesters have formed their own radical wing of the pro-choice movement.

Emily Shugerman
03.17.19

On a recent Wednesday, protesters gathered outside the Planned Parenthood in Madison, Wisconsin, for more than an hour, chanting, giving speeches, and occasionally raising their fists in the air. In their hands, they held a hot-pink and white banner reading, “We ❤️Abortion.”

They were members of Madison Abortion Defense, a group whose mission includes countering anti-abortion demonstrators outside clinics. The group is one of at least five similar organizations that have united to form the Movement for Abortion Defense coalition, dedicated to “opposing right-wing, anti-choice protests in the streets” and “reclaiming space and confronting antis at our clinics.”

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/abortion-defenders-keep-showing-up-at-planned-parenthood-clinics-that-want-them-to-stay-away