Tag Archives: Escorting

Family Event Photos

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The Saturday after Mother’s Day still saw a lot of anti-abortion protesters at the clinic. There were about 200 of them.  At one point another escort asked me what one anti’s name was and I answered, “I don’t know. That is one I haven’t seen, but I can’t remember all of their names. There are a lot of new ones out today.” An anti overheard me and said, “Yes, and there will be a lot more of us from now on. Get used to it. You aren’t going to win.” Psychic predictions from the sidelines.

Among the new groups was one of young people carrying shiny, new fetal-porn posters. I noticed a lot of Operation Rescue labels in the bottom corner of these new posters. This particular group had brought at least twelve posters, about four feet wide by two and one-half feet high each. All of them, old posters and new, displayed a graphic image of what was supposed to be an aborted fetus or sonogram pictures of a developing fetus. One person could carry each poster and after all of the clients entered the clinic, they lined up across the property line facing the waiting room windows. There were so many of them and the posters so large, they had to stand three deep and raise the posters up so all of them could be seen.

I know I should have taken a photo of them for you guys, but I neglected to do so. You will have to  just imagine the spectacle spreading across the sidewalk just beyond the clinic entrance. The sidewalk was so blocked, escorts discussed strategies for moving around them in case any clients arrived late. Luckily, we didn’t have to implement those plans.

This May 19th article by Robin Marty in RH Reality Check caught my attention. It was published the next day and described exactly what we are seeing at EMW. Marty describes this tactic perfectly:

  • Public protest of abortion using graphic material has been a staple of the anti-choice movement since the early ’80s, when activist Joe Scheidler advocated it as a means to engage in protest and “sidewalk counseling” in his handbook Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion. From fliers with graphic pictures that were handed out at public events and marches to larger photos outside of clinics where women would be terminating pregnancies, Scheidler was an enthusiastic advocate for the power of a gruesome image, although he did recommend that the ones at clinics be positioned away from the person doing the actual “counseling” of women prior to their entrance into the clinic in order to not scare them. He also encouraged the use of such photos at pro-choice events or when picketing the homes, private offices, clubs, and places of worship frequented by providers.

And, the new twist in those plans is:

  • Still, for the most part the target remained adults, and adults in places where anti-choice advocates assume the majority would support abortion rights. That is beginning to change as more protesters are seeking to give the photos wider distribution, and directly affect those under the age of 18. High schools  are becoming a favorite protesting place of late, with one “truth truck” driver stating that the giant photos of “dismembered fetuses” displayed on the side of his truck are the only way to get the message across.

Bringing the graphic photos to public events where young people are expected has backfired for the extremists more than once. Parents object to the politicizing of school events or family-friendly events. They object to their children being exposed to the photos. When and if a parent talks to their children about reproductive issues and abortion should be left up to the parents’ judgment. It is just one more way the anti-abortion groups prove they do not respect anyone’s right to decide unless it is to agree with their anti-abortion views.

Almost two years ago, protesters targeted a child’s middle school back-to-school night. Why was this child a target of their signs? The father of the child is the landlord for an abortion clinic in Germantown, MD. After public outcry about the graphic nature of the protests, this landlord decided to fight back. Voice of Choice was formed to help others targeted by these extreme tactics. 

The antis do not seem to listen to public outcry or reason. They are stepping up the in-your-face efforts at locations that have nothing to do with reproduction or abortion. This week in a Texas high school, abortion photos were found in the girl’s restroom. The… “material was scattered all over the restroom.”

The US isn’t the only one to see this uptick in distribution of fetal porn. In Calgary this month, 50,000 photo postcards were distributed in an effort to “reopen the debate on abortion.” Their target audience are residents in the ridings of “MPs who voted against a motion to study when life begins.”

  • Melanee Thomas, an associate political science professor at the University of Calgary, questions the organization’s tactics.

  • She says the postcard campaign may be aimed at young people.

  • “Part of it is to try to convert the young to a very particular way of seeing this issue, one that is, I ought to say, not legally balanced and not constitutionally balanced with the way that we have the Charter set up in Canada.”

Targeting the young is not a new tactic for the antis. They bring their children to protest at the clinics. It is their idea of a family event and it is a learning experience for their children that frequently reverses in adulthood. This story is only one example of how minds change from our childhood adherence to our parents’ doctrine to our own viewpoint through discussion, research and reading non-religious and/or scientific articles of the facts surrounding abortion.

Marty believes the distribution of fetal photos to the young seems to be about this message:

  • The message implied is clear: If you want these pictures to go away, ban safe abortion. Until you do exactly what they say, they will continue to bring their protests everywhere people gather. Especially family events involving children.

Good luck with that plan. Fostering outrage against your group rarely seems to sway people to a particular viewpoint.

We need to broaden access to abortion not ban it. We need to broaden access to birth control to prevent unplanned pregnancies, not make birth control harder to obtain.

We need to support individual reproductive choices.

The Stork Bus ~ by Amarie

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The anti-choice crowd is developing a new tactic. As if clinic protesters and the legislating of invasive and unnecessary medical procedures weren’t enough, women seeking abortion care may now have the experience of having to navigate their way through or around a “Save the Storks” bus as they seek to enter an abortion care facility.

This project was highlighted in an article on the anti-abortion Live Action blog March 1, 2012.*

Save the Storks is a project fronted by an amicable looking young vegan hipster named Dave, a fact that is weirdly emphasized at multiple points throughout the article (and likely an attempt to use lifestyle choice as a means to add validity to this young man’s anti-choice endeavors).

As a Christian-affiliated anti-choice group, the Storks project reduces women to little more than animals used to deliver babies to “deserving families” and ultimately seeks to usurp a woman’s right to choose anything but birth as an acceptable end to her pregnancy.

Claiming to be an abortion clinic’s worst nightmare (they must be unaware of the reality of clinic bombings or the assassination of abortion providers), the Dallas, Texas based Save the Storks van is not the first of it’s kind or so-called “moral” persuasion.

Despite the $140,000 price tag, the vehicle is the smallest and lightest of the mobile sonographers; it requires no special permits and can park at a meter or in a standard parking space.

These anti-choice activists are taking advantage of an important loophole; the size and weight of the vehicle allow it to skirt certain parking and permit regulations thus gaining more access to abortion clinic parking areas, and by extension, the patients making their way toward the clinic. They obviously–and hypocritically–believe that their activities should not be subject to regulation.

Save the Storks’ primary goal is to literally place the van as another obstacle in front of abortion clinics and apprehend women as they approach. A free sonogram is used as bait, and the women are literally lured into the bus/van–a small exam room on wheels, plus a restroom–where they then receive Christian counseling, a pregnancy test and/or a sonogram.

The article states that the ultrasound is performed by a licensed sonographer and reviewed by an OB/GYN, but there is no such clarification about the use of a licensed counselor or if they are offering medically sound information, free of religious bias. The author later states that when a woman is convinced to not terminate, she is sent to a nearby crisis pregnancy center, so it seems unlikely that accurate medical information is a part of the Save the Storks agenda.

Though they claim to be concerned with the well being of the mother, Save the Storks mission ends when the woman leaves the bus and enters the nearby pregnancy center–she then becomes the responsibility of the CPC and any churches which (may or may not) help fund them via donations from constituents. If the church can’t or won’t help, she is on her own again.

“Our ministry is designed to meet all the needs of the woman,” claims Daryl, another Save the Storks volunteer. “At the pregnancy center, every mother will receive whatever her personal situation calls for, be it help with affordable medical care, legal aid to escape from an abusive boyfriend, life skills counseling, mental health counseling, spiritual guidance, and more.”

When the question of cost is brought up, Dave responds,”The churches need to stand up and start giving to their local pregnancy centers.”

The wishful thinking attached to Dave’s promise of assistance is that the local churches ought to donate more to the pregnancy centers–not that they are receiving enough money to shoulder this burden already, but because these services ought to be provided to the women, the churches ought to give them enough money to make it happen.

The responsibility to fulfill the promise of help offered by the Stork project is passed along to an entity outside of the organization where they have absolutely no control over the appropriation of services and no way to guarantee that assistance can or will be provided.

Perhaps Dave’s downtown loft apartment and vegan-hipster lifestyle have blinded him to the financial reality of donation-based services, and more importantly the financial reality of most of the women he and his fellow anti-choice volunteers are trying to coerce and then carelessly pawn off on someone else.

Beneath the pretty facade of promises made–a means to the project’s desired end– there is no stability. The strategy in place is to make any assurance necessary to convince women that their lives will be made better by carrying the pregnancy to term, by giving birth, but the Stork project (specifically) and the pregnancy centers (in general) offer nothing substantial to actually help women and children thrive.

As is common practice with CPCs, promises upon promises are made, but very few are kept. Crisis pregnancy centers, have a history of not providing promised services once a pregnancy is carried to term, and even prenatal assistance is rationed.

Servalbear, a clinic escort, recalls from personal experience that, “Our CPC in Louisville does not provide help to every pregnancy. They do offer help on a sliding scale and if you are married you are on the bottom end of the scale because your husband should “provide.” We also hear reports of promises before delivery that never materialize after delivery. I talked to a woman passing on the sidewalk two weeks ago who said she was promised all kinds of things, but when she wouldn’t give the baby up for adoption they never followed through on the promises.”

The practice of basing postpartum services on the decision to put the child up for adoption shines another negative light on the animal imagery selected by the founders of the Stork project.  There is an implication here that these women themselves are not deserving of motherhood, but that they exist–as faceless storks– to thanklessly produce and deliver children to so-called worthy people.

While the Stork project has doubtlessly worked hard to craft an image and approach that is less abrasive than that of the stereotypical clinic protesters, their goal is equally single minded and dismissive of women’s autonomy, choice, and well being. Additionally, there is an undeniable creep factor associated with operating from and enticing women into their vans. The practice, as with most fanatical anti-choice activity, is unsettling and reeks of exploitation and deceit.

Insidiously enough, the article even states that “…Because they don’t have to lead with agenda, there are no warning bells for a desperate and defensive mother. There is only a friendly face…” to lure the women into a van where they can be privately bombarded by manipulative language and information that is definitively religiously biased and likely medically inaccurate.

Even the usage of the image of the stork is dismissive and trivializing of women’s role in pregnancy and the risks we face in carrying a pregnancy to term and giving birth. While the stork may be considered a whimsical and innocuous image associated with pregnancy, it treats the women as non-human vessels for “unborn children.”

Though the Stork bus volunteers may claim that their focus and concern is equally rationed between the potential mother and her “unborn child,” the reduction of women to storks and the careless passing of the women from Stork van to CPC is a blatant instance of who-cares-how-the-baby-gets-here-and-who-or-what-brings-it, as long as a baby born (but not necessarily cared for) is the end result.

This mindset also solidifies the notion that these people’s focus is not on the health and life of the woman, but on ensuring that a baby is born regardless of complicating circumstances during the pregnancy or after the birth.

For the moment, Save the Storks is a Dallas based project, but they intend to expand into a national anti-choice entity.

*All links to anti-abortion websites have been omitted purposely. Please use Google or message us separately if you would like a citation for sources.

Sidewalk Snippet ~ {5/20/13}

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We stood there counting. There were 9 antis out this morning; Donna and 8 men. Four of them circled the block; continuous motion in an attempt to reach any client before escorts. It wasn’t really a full block, more like a half of a city block. Their circle took them past the CPC, through their parking lot, down the alley behind the clinic and between two buildings on the other side of the EMW clinic to reach their starting point again.

They greeted each escort as we arrived, but continued circling. I counted and in a five-minute period they reached their starting point 6 times. Power walking for harassment. This particular group always reminds of a school of sharks. They all dress in dark clothing and are in constant motion.

The other antis divided their time between praying at the clinic windows, preaching at the clinic windows, or talking to clients in the parking lot and on their walk up the sidewalk.

It would intimidate me to face a group of men determined to interrupt my trip for needed healthcare. That’s the purpose.

Odds and Ends

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In the aftermath of the Saturday before Mother’s Day, it seems quiet.  Not necessarily on the sidewalk, but the need to gather large numbers of escorts is gone.  The fundraiser ~ which was a great success ~ is winding down as people pay their pledges.

Father’s Day is coming soon, but it just doesn’t have the same impact as Mother’s Day for the protesters.

We’ve moved deep into spring and are headed for summer, which makes my Saturday mornings more pleasant .  I’m not a fan of winter ~ in fact, escorting is the first and only thing I’ve done voluntarily that requires being outside when it’s cold.  But the seasons of escorting come and go…  and there are always stories to tell.

Servalbear and I made a neat discovery on the blog – we mentioned we’ve been getting comments from one of the protesters over and over, right?  Well, guess what!  We can mark them as spam a few times, and they start going to spam automatically.  We don’t even have to read them anymore.  Just delete them, along with the typical other junky spam.  Makes me feel like Batman, Caped Crusader ~ Bif!  Bam!!  Take that, pesky protester!**

And there’s this story ~ the escorts know this one, but I don’t think I’ve told it here.  For a long time, one group of the protesters didn’t know my name.   My vest has a name on it ~ my daughter’s, because it used to be hers back when she was an escort.  I call it my heirloom vest.   So they figured out that wasn’t my name, but they didn’t know what it was.

Then for a long time, they thought my name was Frances.   There once was an escort named Frances, but it’s not me.  One day, I ran into one of this group of protesters outside the clinic, at a public event.  She was with someone I didn’t recognize, and as she walks by, I hear her say to the other woman “there’s one of those deathscorts.”  I just smile.

Later, we come face to face, and she says to her friend, “This is…” ~ like she’s going to introduce me ~ and to me, “What is your name?  I know it’s not Frances.”

And I say, “That’s right ~ it’s Not Frances.”  And that stuck for a long time.  The escorts started calling me “Not Frances,” and it was an amusing game.  Kinda like Rumplestiltskin, right?

Recently, they figured out what my name is, and have begun using it ~ under their breath at first, with more certainty now.  Clearly, they’ve googled me, and they reference things they’ve learned about me, with a hiss, and a touch of venom.  I just smile. Fortunately, I’m NOT actually Rumplestiltskin, and the name thing was just a game.  I don’t care if they know who I am ~ I don’t have to hide being an escort.   Their efforts miss the mark.  It doesn’t matter at all.

But mostly we settle back into the mundane, after Mother’s Day.  Sometimes I get a bit tired of blogging.  You know, it starts to seem so repetitive on the sidewalk.  The protesters scream “dead baby, dead baby” and I blog “mean protesters, mean protesters,” and really, how does that help anything?

Then I hear a story like this:

Two women get to the clinic, and jump out of the car.  The escort approaches and says, “The clinic doors aren’t open yet, and there are a few protesters here, if you like, you can wait in the car and we’ll let you know when the doors open.

The two young women look at each other and smile.  One of them says, “Oh, we aren’t worried about them.”  The other one adds, “We’ve been reading your blog and practicing what we’re going to say to them!  They won’t bother us at all.”  Still smiling, they walk to the door, unfazed by the chasers around them.

THAT is why I keep doing this.   Helping people find ways to push back against the stigma and shame on the sidewalk ~ that’s what this is about.

**  NOTE:  No protesters were harmed in the writing of this blog, and I do not endorse violence in any form, on or off the sidewalk.

And the Number Is…

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315.

Three hundred and fifteen.

That’s how many protesters there were.  What does that look like?

IMG_20130511_073450_315

Yes, that’s a stroller ~ lots of families packed up the babies and came on down.  We’re heading up from 1st Street – the clinic is at the awning off in the distance there.  As we keep walking:

IMG_20130511_073505_000

Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, near the $3 parking lot is this:

IMG_20130511_073133_393They used to park this billboard right in front of the clinic, but we make a real effort these days to get there early enough to take up those parking spaces.  One year, we succeeded in leaving him nowhere to park.  That was lovely.

If you’re coming around the corner from the 2nd street side, it looks like this:

IMG_20130511_073620_155

Which is not quite as daunting as walking up through the whole gauntlet from 1st Street.  But regardless of which direction you come from, at the door, you’re greeted with this:

IMG_20130511_063019_470

An excellent example of fetus porn.  And this:

Yes, the “preacher”in this video chides the escorts for “how they treat the women who come there… patting them on the back…”   But I heard another protester say “the women are dumped out at the curb and the escorts drag them into the clinic,” ~ an interesting interpretation of events.

Watching the video, you can tell a client has come around the corner.  The woman in red springs into action.  ”You don’t have to kill your baby, someone can help you, PEOPLE WANT YOUR CHILD!” she screams.

Something about that creeps me out, it is as if the client has ceased to exist and is purely an incubator.    I might have thought that was the most chilling thing I heard, if I hadn’t heard a mother talking to her son on their way back to their car.

The woman was clearly pregnant.  The little boy was about five, walking beside and slightly in front of her, holding her hand.  I don’t know what he said, but she replied in that extra sweet voice we sometimes use with our children when we know someone’s listening.  She said, “I know!  It is scary!  I don’t know how these people can want to kill little babies.”

All I can do is shake my head.  And hope that when he’s old enough to understand, someone can explain to him why his mother would want to take him around people that she believes want to kill little babies.  Cause I sure don’t get it.

When Calling Doesn’t Help

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The client and companion pulled to the curb right at 7a and the client jumped out of the car immediately. We explained the clinic doors didn’t open until 7:30a. They replied they knew, but wanted to wait by the door because they wanted to be the first into the clinic.

We then explained the orange vests and protesters, and that the protesters would talk to them while they waited, but wouldn’t cross the property line. The client replied, “Oh, I know all about them. I went into their so-called clinic last week by mistake. It was horrible and I missed my appointment. I want to be sure I get in first this time.”  

We explained the $3 parking lot to the companion and let them know we would be there to help them there after we walked the client to the door.

D was right there before we took two steps towards the entrance, telling the client to “just take two minutes to come to A Woman’s Choice. They aren’t open anyway. What harm will it do?” The client replied, “Get away from me. I have already been there and know all about that place. I don’t want you to talk to me.” Of course, D didn’t listen. She continued to talk to the client while they were standing by the door.

Two escorts stayed at the entrance with the client while I went across to the lot to help the companion with the payment box. The companion decided to wait a little while in the warm car before standing by the door.

When I came back to the door, the client was shaking, upset and yelling at D to leave them alone. After I heard her say to D three times, each successively louder, to “Leave me alone,” I told D, “She has asked you to leave her alone three times. Now you are harassing her.” The expected, “I’m not harassing her. I just want her to know her options,” was the response. Then she continued to talk to the client and the client again told her to leave her alone.

I turned to the client and said, “You can call Police Dispatch and report her for harassing you if you want. I’m not sure what they will do, but you can call.” The client indicated they would like to call and I gave them the phone number.

While the client was waiting for the police, the companion also came to the door to wait with the client. I met them halfway down the sidewalk and said, “I’m glad you are here,” while catching them up with what had happened.The client and companion were together by the door while they waited for police response..

Two squad cars came within minutes. D reached the responding officer first and gave her version. When the officer talked to the client they were told D could say anything she wanted to them because of “free speech.”Sigh. Sometimes it works to call the police and sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on who responds and their views on abortion.

After the officer left, D turned to me and said, “You are just a busybody.” However, D and the other protesters did leave them alone after the conversation with the officer, but this particular client had two unpleasant trips to the clinic. I worry that I contributed to the second unpleasant trip by suggesting they call the police.

Actually, police presence had the antis subdued until the majority of the clients went into the door. After they went in, an anti who regularly prays by the curb noticed it was quiet, picked up the fetal porn poster, and stood at the entrance shouting, “Do you know about Jesus? If you haven’t heard about Jesus you need to.” D actually waved her away after a few minutes.

Politics and your view on abortion should not determine how you interpret harassment. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean others cannot be offended by your speech or they cannot ask you to stop talking to them.

New Escort Story ~ by Anonymous

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I am a new escort. I cannot speak for all new escorts, but I hope that my post will give both potential future escorts and more experienced escorts some insight into what it is like to be a new clinic escort.

I first heard about the escort group when calls were put out for extra assistance on the day before Easter. My husband and I are very pro-choice, and decided to put our values into action by volunteering as escorts. The email said that you were expected to not engage/argue with the protesters and I figured I could handle it. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of the number of protesters (or their volume) but figured there might be people holding signs and yelling. My husband and I were given clinic escort vests and a brief rundown – ask people if they want to be escorted, walk at their speed, don’t engage with the protesters, don’t touch the protesters (or they’ll cry “assault!”), keep talking even if it’s just about the weather, to just keep the client’s attention away from the screaming.

In the chaos, I somehow found myself escorting from the $3 lot. (Please know that this is unusual! New escorts typically undergo a lot of shadowing before actually escorting). It was a quick frenzy of jaywalking (at the client’s request), shouting protesters, and emotion. My mind didn’t even have time to process everything that was happening. One protester ran up to me and bumped into me, trying desperately to reach the client. Everything in my mind cried out, “You will not hurt her!” and in a moment of intense (and selfish) need to feel like I could protect the client, I put my arm around her. The client, her face set with determination, yelled back at the protesters. Just as she reached the door, a protester wailed out, “Don’t DO it, darlin’!” and as suddenly as it had began, it was over. The client was inside the clinic.

It was then that I met one of the senior escorts, as she pulled me aside and helped me to realize that I had just broken one of the fundamental Points of Unity – asking the client’s consent (not just to be escorted, but also to be touched). My heart sank. With the panic of the crowd subsiding, I knew she was right. Logically I had known that, but in the chaos of the moment, there is no logic. As my husband and I walked back across the street to the parking lot, I started to get choked up. I hadn’t realized it was going to be so intense. The raw emotion felt too overwhelming.

We stayed a bit longer. I turned in my vest, thanked the other volunteers, got to my car, and started to cry as I tried to process my first escort experience.

I found myself at the escort training two weeks later. I think I oscillated between “I really want to do this” and “I don’t think I can handle this!” about ten times during the two-hour training.

The same experienced escort from my first experience encouraged me to try again, this time during a weekday morning when the sidewalk tends to be quieter.

My second time escorting was on a weekday morning. Now armed with non-sidewalk training and a deeper insight into the Points of Unity, I felt more confident. Being assigned the sole job of observing for that morning was incredibly helpful. I breathed more, forced myself to mentally slow down the events, allowed myself to process everything at a calmer rate.

In processing my somewhat unique start to escorting, I have realized that I (perhaps like many new escorts) was misdirecting energy during my first experience. In the chaos, I allowed myself to think that clients needed protection. This is not an unusual thought, I suppose, when you actually get a glimpse of some of the more vocal and hysterical protesters. The whole experience felt dramatic, frenzied, and full of helplessness. After the training, I saw clearly that the experience was about empowerment. We provide the space for clients to be empowered by always asking consent, by remaining calm and quiet, and by not engaging with the protesters.

Psychologists often speak of learning as a process of using what you know to navigate the world. People use mental scripts to guide expectations of what to do in new situations. For example, a mental script for ordering food in a restaurant can help you learn how to order food at a drive through.

There is no script for escorting on the sidewalk. Nothing in my life had prepared me for the chaos from the protesters. All of the implicit, unspoken rules we use for engaging with people in our daily life (turn-taking, respecting personal space, not yelling at strangers) seem to be forgotten by the protesters. For new escorts, facing this bizarre situation with no mental framework for guidance is a disorienting and chaotic experience! The escort training (both formal and on-the-sidewalk training) has been helpful in providing guidance. Even so, as a new escort, it feels very unsettling to not have a mental script to help me process events on the sidewalk. There is nothing in my daily life that helps me relate to this bizarre occurrence of people showing up daily to harass other people who are just trying to make the walk from their car to their doctor’s office.

To the more seasoned escorts: I am trying, I am listening, and I will do my best. I will probably still beat myself up for mistakes, no matter how many times you tell me not to. I still feel anxious at times, even though you teach me the “thousand-yard stare” that gives me a serene face to present toward the protesters. I am still trying to manage my emotions in a way that will allow me to provide a calm presence for the clients and their companions. And despite all of this, I will still show up to escort, even though there is still a part of me that doubts that my money wouldn’t be more helpful than my physical presence. As one experienced escort put into words, “I don’t think I can do this, but I know I have to do this”. How very true.

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REMINDER: Our annual  fund drive Pledge-A-Picketer is NOW!

The Saturday before Mother’s Day is the biggest protester day of the year.  It also is the date  where we count protesters for donations to support the pro-choice effort and the escorts.  You can pledge a certain amount for each protester showing up that morning. If you prefer, you can also make a straight monetary donation.

Use this form to make your pledge:

 

 

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Sidewalk Snippet ~ {5/6/13}

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Spring in the Ohio Valley means a lot of rainfall. As I have said before, this always has good and bad associated with it as far as escorting is concerned.

We had no problems getting clients and companions to the clinic entrance. There were fewer antis out, but most stayed grouped under the overhang. While our walks were wet, we had only a couple of antis walking the sidewalk with their umbrellas. The clients were able to walk without a lot of interference.

However, when we reached the entrance we had to navigate around antis with their umbrellas up blocking the entrance. When I said, “You are blocking the entrance,” to one anti who works for AWC the reply was, “No, I am not.”

Three antis were standing with their umbrellas up across the entrance. The companion had to push a little to get through and bumped the anti’s umbrella. I pointed out she blocked the last client only to be told, “He got in.”

Yes they did, but it is still blocking when huge umbrellas are added to the people.

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REMINDER: Our annual  fund drive Pledge-A-Picketer is NOW!

The Saturday before Mother’s Day is the biggest protester day of the year.  It also is the date  where we count protesters for donations to support the pro-choice effort and the escorts.  You can pledge a certain amount for each protester showing up that morning. If you prefer, you can also make a straight monetary donation.

Use this form to make your pledge:

 


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Sidewalk Snippet ~ {4/29/13}

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It was raining again and it was an easy morning for escorts. There were just a few antis out.

We had several very empowered clients and companions. It is always a privilege to witness them navigate around the antis with ease. Several companions thanked the escorts for what we do, including physical pats on the back from a couple of them. Clients were upbeat and seemingly unphased by the words the antis said, sailing peacefully into the clinic.

As the morning’s activity was winding down, the antis were getting more aggressive with their words and walking two antis to every client. Still, the clients ignored them.

One of the last clients coming in had two companions. I was able to explain the difference between protesters and escorts before we were joined by two antis. In my explanation, I added the phrase, “You can ignore the protesters. This is one place you can be rude.” The client pointed to one companion and said, “That’s why we brought him.” The two antis zeroed in on the two companions because the one brought to be rude was talking to them. The client and I were able to walk in front without interference, sharing our amusement over the comments being exchanged.

Before the morning was over, the pedestrians on the sidewalk joined in. One runner stopped in front of the two prayers across from the clinic entrance. He asked them, “What is going on here?” One answered, “We are praying for the babies. This is an abortion clinic.” The runner answered, “You have been deceived by Satan. This is not Christianity. You are wrong to be here.” Then they continued running down the sidewalk. The “We will pray for you,” shouted after them was met with a curse tossed over a shoulder.

If I had one wish, I would wish for no antis in front of the clinic. If this wish cannot be granted, this day was the next best thing.

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REMINDER: Our annual  fund drive Pledge-A-Picketer is NOW!

The Saturday before Mother’s Day is the biggest protester day of the year.  It also is the date  where we count protesters for donations to support the pro-choice effort and the escorts.  You can pledge a certain amount for each protester showing up that morning. If you prefer, you can also make a straight monetary donation.

Use this form to make your pledge:

 

 

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