Reproductive Health Care Providers Prevail in Spite of Anti-Abortion Protests

Reproductive Health Care Providers Prevail in Spite of Anti-Abortion Protests


National anti-abortion extremist groups attempted to intimidate and harass abortion providers and patients in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Wichita this July. In spite of efforts to garner national media and large numbers of demonstrators, the protests fell flat.

Operation Save America (OSA), an anti-abortion extremist group based in Waco, Texas, led a week-long campaign against South Wind Women’s Center and Planned Parenthood in Wichita to mark the 25th Anniversary of Operation Rescue’s 1991 Summer of Mercy, a six-week protest during which 2,700 extremists were arrested for blockading three abortion clinics, including the clinic of Dr. George Tiller who was later murdered by an anti-abortion extremist in 2009. But, instead of turning out thousands, OSA managed to recruit less than 200 people to the Kansas protests, and almost a fourth of those participating were children.

Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project (NCAP) launched a targeted digital media campaign on social media and in the Wichita Eagle to inform residents of Wichita about the extremists coming to protest reproductive healthcare providers. The ads put OSA leaders on the defensive, even before the protests began. Members of NCAP traveled to Wichita to monitor OSA, help mobilize community members, and coordinate appropriate responses with law enforcement. Feminist Majority Foundation National Clinic Access Project Director duVergne Gaines said, “Thanks to courageous clinic staff, dedicated pro-choice volunteers, and a robust police presence in each targeted city, all clinics remained open and all providers and patients remained safe and undeterred.”

During the protests, Rusty Thomas, the leader of OSA, issued an open letter to police calling upon them to, “insist their states immediately outlaw abortion, grant the police the authority to shut down any death camp in their jurisdiction, and arrest those who participate in the barbaric act of abortion.”

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2016/08/05/reproductive-health-care-providers-prevail-in-spite-of-anti-abortion-protests/