Feminists Fought Back Against Anti-Abortion Extremists in Alabama Last Week

Feminists Fought Back Against Anti-Abortion Extremists in Alabama Last Week


Last week, the anti-abortion extremist group Operation Save America (OSA) organized its annual national event of increased harassment and protesting outside targeted clinics in Alabama. The Feminist Majority Foundation’s Clinic Defense Team spent several weeks on the ground in Alabama before and during the protests, providing assistance to clinics throughout the state.

For years, OSA has used the summer to travel around the nation and protest abortion, often targeting vulnerable clinics in states where abortion providers are already under siege. This week, anti-abortion extremists targeted Montgomery, Alabama’s Reproductive Health Services, the only clinic left in the state’s capital. OSA historically attracts many out-of-state anti-choice extremists to their demonstrations, but this was the first year OSA invited an advocate of “justifiable homicide” to be a featured speaker during the week of intimidation and harassment.

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“In spite of severe intimidation and harassment by OSA, all of the abortion clinics in Alabama, from Huntsville to Mobile, Birmingham and Montgomery, remained open and all patients were seen,” said duVergne Gaines, director of FMF’s Clinic Defense Team. “We were pleased to work with courageous clinic staff, hundreds of pro-choice supporters and dedicated law enforcement throughout the state to keep these clinics safe and open to serve the women of Alabama. What’s more, OSA’s numbers were down this year as compared to last year when they targeted Louisiana, and it appears they are more desperate than ever.”
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Such high alert is often necessary during extremist protests such as OSA. The Feminist Majority Foundation’s 2014 National Clinic Violence Survey shows that since 2010, the distribution of Old West-style WANTED posters and pamphlets targeting doctors and clinic staff, and featuring doctors’ and staffs’ photographs, home addresses, and other personal information, has almost doubled from 27% to 52%. Historically, these kinds of threats to abortion doctors, staff, and clinics have often preceded serious crimes such as violence, arson, bombings, stalking of clinic staff, patients, and doctors, and murder. “Given this history, the dramatic increase in extremist threats cannot be ignored,” said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Clinics like those targeted in Alabama, are a vital part of women’s healthcare, providing birth control, STD and cancer screenings, and other reproductive health services in addition to abortion. Without these clinics, there is no choice.”

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/07/20/feminists-fought-back-against-anti-abortion-extremists-in-alabama-last-week/