315.
Three hundred and fifteen.
That’s how many protesters there were. What does that look like?
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:
Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, near the $3 parking lot is this:
They 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:
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:
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.
Louisville Clinic Escorts 
I’m going to be a bit delayed with giving my donation, but I’m adding a few bucks in honor of the antis I counted in front of my local clinic last Saturday- only five, but that’s still five too many. They were all very small old people with grey hair, and my husband said they looked like garden gnomes. So now whenever I see them out there I think of them as garden gnomes and it makes me laugh at them rather than making me angry.
Oh, I like the “garden gnomes” image too – thanks, Sara! And thanks for the extra on your donation!
That was a lot of people there to try and spread lies, misinformation, and emotional and spiritual blackmail to people whose business they had no right to interfere in.
Days like those are days that I admire the hard work you guys put into this.
Thanks, Kazei – It was a lot of people doing all those things the protesters do. And thanks for the words of support.
If you wouldn’t mind keeping the link up for the paypal email, I’ll make a payment when I get paid on the 15th! Thanks!!
No problem!
OK, so 315 protesters x $0.05 per protester = $15.75. And because it was over 200 protesters (and a maniacal laugh was made), there’s another $5. So where shall I send the $20.75 I owe you?
Thanks, Gillian!!
You can send your donation via PayPal. Just make a “payment” to our email address everysaturdaymorning@gmail.com. If you are not registered with PayPal, we are also registered with Pop Money https://www.popmoney.com You can just make a payment to our email address everysaturdaymorning@gmail.com and it will get to us.
Thanks, again!!
And done!
Thanks!
I weighed my decision whether or not to take my 4 year old daughter to Austin for Planned Parenthood’s Lobby Day and eventually decided against it because even thought I think I am on the right side of this issue (just like the mum you saw) I recognize that there a line there that I can’t cross as anti-choicers do.
I refuse to drag my child to protest something she doesn’t understand and use her presence as ammunition for my cause. I may be down there Lobbying for my and her rights but I do not want to use her like a pawn for the cause no matter how right or just I may think it is. She will join me when she is old enough to understand the issue and decide for herself if she wants to so actively support the cause.
It’s wrong to traumatize your children by gruesomely explaining abortion to them and then bring them to protest something they barely understand but are taught to be horrified of and can’t help but misunderstand because of the insidiously incorrect explanation they’ve given them. Taking my kiddo down to Planned Parenthood’s Lobby Day down in Austin with me would have been stooping to the level of anti-choicers by using my kid as a pawn and I just can’t do it.
I used to think I would take my hypothetical children but as I delved deeper into the world of protestors and clinic escorts (my abortion before she was born and experience with my clinic’s protestors provided fuel for the research) I knew I couldn’t, she’ll be an activist when/if she’s ready to, at an age where she can fully comprehend the issue, know her own mind on it and volunteer herself.
I think that’s a wise decision, oubli, and I’m sure your child will thank you for it someday!! Thanks for sharing your thoughts here…
As much as I would like to be able to see children of all ages at pro-choice events just as a “screw you” to all the idiots who continue to push the idea that all women who choose to have an abortion fit a certain demographic, I have to say I totally agree with your decision to not involve your child at her current age. I find children at anti-abortion protests, as well as fetal porn repulsive. I feel that if somebody isn’t old enough to hear about sex and contraception then they certainly are not old enough to be making reproductive choices, much less old enough to fully comprehend something like abortion. If people don’t want their kids to see signs, bill boards and graphic sex pictures on the sidewalk then other peoples children shouldn’t have to look at scary images even if they are probably Photoshopped or taken in another country. Even though children too young to speak are clearly brought to anti protests, even children old enough to speak are often young enough to only parrot what is drilled into them at home. The pro-choice movement is better than that because we actually believe that people should, you know, have a fully informed choice.
On another note, thanks again to the escorts and I’m sorry I don’t live closer so I could do more than read about all the anti garbage on the internet and post too-long and too-frequent opinions on your blog. Having grown up in rural Kentucky, I can only imagine how frightening it is to have to drive 3-4 hours into a large city you probably haven’t been to only to have to walk a gauntlet of screaming antis early in the morning to have a basic outpatient procedure or even have access to a couple of pills as a teenager or even adult as any age. I can’t vote in the state to help keep people who support this garbage out of office but I do send people that I think would be responsive to the issue to your blog. If it helps any, I haven’t sent anybody to your site who wasn’t horrified at what people have to go through to access the clinic.
Thanks, Kyborn, of course we appreciate the folks you send to the blog – it is a bit horrifying, and we’re always glad to get support of any kind, even if it’s just more awareness of the problem.
I think it is particularly frightening for people who may never have been to Louisville before, to have to drive a long way, find their way through the city before dawn and then face a hostile crew of people – yeah. Anyone might be intimidated, and I think people who’ve lived in rural areas really understand that.
Thanks for reading, and for your comment, and the support!