Is Kentucky really in the “Bible Belt”? When the state has the nation’s only Creation Museum* and plans to build a Noah’s Ark Theme Park*, complete with a full-scale replica of the ark, do we really need to question how firmly we are in the “Bible Belt?”
The real question relating to escorting is how much does that change the tactics of the antis in Louisville compared to other parts of the US?
The antis we face daily use all of the national pro-life talking points. They have the same signs that are used nationally and internationally. In my opinion, the real difference is in the amount of personalized aggression we see in the antis facing us every day.
We published an article this week that drew attention from at least one anti. We have called her Nurse Betty in the past, but that isn’t her real name. Nurse Betty is always telling us how she works in the medical field and knows, really knows, that we are lying and misleading clients. If we would only listen to her, we would know the truth.
Nurse Betty objected to a comment by another escort on our article. She composed a comment filled with invective and advising us to watch “180”*, the anti-abortion movie to see the error of our ways. We deleted the comment without publishing it. This was followed by another comment demanding to know why we didn’t publish the first comment. We sent Nurse Betty a polite email stating the comment did not comply with our comment policy and included a link to the policy. This spurred another comment from Nurse Betty filled with more demands, more statements about how awful we were and another recommendation to watch “180.”* This comment was deleted as well.**
The next morning after this exchange of comments, I joined other escorts on the sidewalk. There were not many clients this morning and the antis were looking for something to do. Nurse Betty was there and came up to me right away; standing right in front of me and demanding explanations. The aura of offended entitlement was coming in waves.
This is part of our conversation:
NB: Are you one of the ones who write for the blog?
Me: I don’t talk to protesters.
NB: You are protesting too. Do you write for the blog?
Me: I don’t talk to protesters.
NB: Well, I want to know why you don’t want to listen to the truth. You didn’t post my comments. That’s not right to just present one side of the issue. You need to let people know the truth.
Me: This conversation is over. I don’t talk to protesters.
NB: Well, you can evidently hear me since you responded. You need to just listen to me. You are going to hell for what you are doing. You need to see the truth. You are helping to kill babies. You need to watch “180” and see what you are doing.
Me: (Silence)
Nurse Betty soon got tired of me not answering her and moved on to the escort standing beside me. This was a long-time escort and is known to many of the antis. They know his name, where he worked and that he immigrated from another country a long time ago. Since this escort is outspoken against the anti tactics, he is a frequent target of their wrath.
Nurse Betty started the conversation by telling the escort where he worked, where he was from and hinted that there were “bad things” she knew about him. Then went on to say:
NB: I heard you say the other day that babies are not real people until they have a Social Security number. You didn’t get a Social Security number until you came to the US. Does that mean you weren’t a real person before you got your Social Security number? …I am not going to say everything I know about you, but I know. I want to show you how wrong you are.
With that, Nurse Betty went to her car and retrieved some color graphics about 11”x 20” of what we call fetal porn. They are the photos supposedly depicting fetuses at different stages of development. They moved away from the clinic doors and continued to argue about what Nurse Betty did or did not know and what the escort should believe.
When we were ready to leave, the escort came back to the clinic doors tearing up the pamphlets Nurse Betty gave to him to read. We have seen them all before; many times. She moved to the other escorts on the sidewalk to display her photos. We never found out the supposedly “bad things.”
This is a common maneuver of our Louisville antis. They pretend to know personal things about escorts. Sometimes they do know our names and other personal information, but usually they are on fishing expeditions to see if we will give them more information than they have in order to shame us. Once they learn our names, they use them frequently. Sometimes they will threaten, “I know where you live,” or “I know where you work.” Their aim is to use any bit of information they can glean to intimidate us. That is just one of the reasons I always refuse to respond to their questions. If they are going to use information against me, I want them to have to work for it.
The antis in Louisville scold us, threaten us with hell fire, plead with us, all from inches away from our faces. It is really surprising more confrontations have not taken place between escorts and antis. They seem to feel empowered by their belief and the knowledge a lot of the community around them is made up of fundamentalist Christians who support their views. They feel free of any social stigma to come out daily to harass clients coming to their doctor’s appointment.
Clients and companions are not so lucky. They are surrounded in the “Bible Belt” by the shame and stigma associated with sex, contraception and abortion.
This week Women’s Medical Fund Wisconsin posted an article on their Facebook page with the comment:
- “Melinda McKew of the Georgia Reproductive Justice Action Network has written a moving essay about the impact of stigma on women’s experiences of abortion, including the experience of a woman she helped recently – and also her own experience as a teen.”
Melinda McKew’s article is powerful and points up the force of stigma and shame, especially in the “Bible Belt.”
- I share this story because it highlights the impact abortion stigma has upon individuals having abortions as well as persons who are in any way associated with abortion—clinic workers, abortion doctors, abortion rights advocates, among many others.
- I know this is stupid, but… do you think God will take away any of my children because I’m getting rid of this one? I’m just so worried that I’m going to lose one of my children now as punishment for my abortion.
- After the procedure, my mother made me vow to never speak of my abortion to anyone—not my father, not my family, not even my close friends—lest they discover my shame.
Please read the whole article. It brought tears to my eyes because we see and hear these things from clients every day.
Escorting in a “Bible Belt” state presents its own unique challenges. We are lucky in that we have more support for pro-access in Louisville than there is in rural areas of Kentucky.
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*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.
**Since the original comments and email, we have received multiple comments from Nurse Betty on different articles and pages of our blog. These comments still have not adhered to our comment policy. They have all been deleted without publishing them.
Louisville Clinic Escorts 
Yes, because threatening someone with thinly veiled hints of violence and whatnot is ALWAYS the way to win someone over to your side.
Good lord, these people are hypocrites in every sense of the word. They’ve got no compassion for any of the women who need an abortion and they all but use force on you and all the other escorts. It’s sickening.
And they do this ALL the time and how many minds have they changed? I’d wager very frigging little.
Kazei,
Very few clients choose to talk to the antis or enter the CPC. Those clients who do usually haven’t completely made their decision. We do hear about the “saves” from the antis like it was a score in some game of us vs them, as if that was important. You are right, they are hypocrites in every sense of the word.
Thank you for your comment,
Servalbear
I have a medical background as well. You can always tell the difference between the ones who are making up a persona and pretending to have some connection to medicine, and the ones who actually do. Their tactics are completely different. I love the ones that pretend they know something about medicine because they always say or do something so hilariously stupid they blow their cover. “Nurse” Betty has already done that quite spectacularly. This post literally made me laugh.
I could personally never live in the South since I’m not Christian. You’re up against some truly Bible-sanctioned savages.
Keep fighting the good fight. You are awesome, never forget that.
Longtail,
You always make comments that encourage us. You are right about the medical pretense. We hear the same debunked “facts” over and over. It can be difficult living in the Bible Belt if you aren’t a fundamentalist. I am not a Christian either and it is hard at times. Louisville is more tolerant than it has been in its past, but we have a distance yet to go.
Thank you,
Servalbear
I want to do what little I can for you, Servalbear. If it’s just offering encouragement, I’ll do that gladly because you and the other escorts are my heroes. My family is from Alabama, and going to visit them is just…culture shock. I didn’t fit in, and I knew it (though I do love the South! It’s such a beautiful part of the country!).
Longtail,
We appreciate your support so much. We don’t feel like heroes, just people trying to do what we feel is right to create a space for clients and their companions. Readers like you help us realize there a lot of others out there reading who feel the same way. It makes our community feel larger.
Thanks again,
Servalbear
Another excuse to mention: Hitler outlawed abortion and birth control, He wanted women in “traditional” roles as housefraus and mothers, not in the workplace, and used slaves for war production instead. US, GB and the Soviets used many millions of women workers and Germany got flattened.Hitler knew how to lie to people, the Instant Personhood crowd uses similar tactics and brainwashing. Their Hitler comparison is backwards and inside out. Hitler and other fascists, including our current domestic ones, are always enemies of women’s rights.Oppression of women is always part of their program of oppressing everyone outside of a very small elite.
Nurse Betty” Wombat ” is trying to convert to her side because she knows a few things about me, little does she know that I don’t give a rats ass about what she knows, I am 75 years old I survived Colon cancer, quadruple by pass and now I am fighting Parkinson so nurse Betty has a job on her hands trying to convert this tough old bird.
Ampelio,
It is a privilege and honor to know you. You are one of the best people I know.
Thank you,
Servalbear
I completely second this comment!
As someone who had done a staggering amount of researching into Hitler, Nazism, the Final Solution and the Holocaust (my great grandparents fled Poland a year before Hitler invaded) I was absolutely SICKENED by the
documentarypropaganda of 180. To compare the Holocaust with a women’s right to Reproductive Health Care is beyond ludicrous! Watching the movie actually brought bile up and I had to force myself to watch it despite wanting to throw up, I forced myself to endure it just to be up on the current agitprop of anti-choicers. Anyone with an intellect that hasn’t been corrupted by evangelical anti-choice brainwashing can see that it is intellectually disingenuous to compare the Holocaust to abortion.From ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman, a Holocaust survivor:
“The creators of the film clearly don’t get it. No Christian who understands Jewish suffering should resort to inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust to send a message that abortion is wrong. This was one of the most painful chapters in human history. Must the memory of the 6 million and millions of other victims be continually misused and abused by those with another agenda?”
“You have to be strong not to pay any attention because those who do that call you a Hitler and relate it to the Holocaust prove that they do not know what the Holocaust was.”
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor
Oubli,
I have watched “180” also. The antis were giving away DVDs on the sidewalk at one time. Like you, I watched it to see what the current propaganda was. Your assessment is what I was feeling and thinking as I watched it.
Thank you for teaching me a new word today. Agitprop: Political strategy in which techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence public opinion. I knew that the propaganda films, books, music, art, etc. were agitating. I just didn’t know there was one word to describe this.
Thank you for your input, as always,
Servalbear