Let’s talk about Thursday, October 22.

Thursday, October 22 saw a large well-funded group of anti-abortion terrorists stage clinic invasions aka “rescues” at two reproductive health clinics in Washington, DC - Washington Surgi-Clinic and Capital Women’s Services.

Thursday saw what is called a “lock and block” or “traditional rescue” at Washington Surgi-Clinic, where the antis enter the clinic and chain themselves together, or to equipment and furniture and go limp, requiring the police to extract them, all the while yelling at patients and providers who are usually in another area of the clinic. This practice was common in the late 1980 – 1990’s before the FACE Act was enacted in 1994. The leader of this group, Lauren Handy, has been arrested multiple times for this activity.

The participants that weren’t arrested at this clinic, then left and went to Capital Women’s Services, where they trespassed and interfered with operations until removed from the offices.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (FACE) makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct the entrance to a clinic or to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction, such as a sit-in, to interfere with, injure, or intimidate clinic workers or women seeking abortions or other reproductive health services, according to Prof. Susan G. Mezey of Loyola University – Chicago.

On October 14 at a Planned Parenthood in Shrewsbury, NJ, the same tactics of trespassing into the clinic and refusing to leave until removed by the police were used by Catholic anti-abortion extremists. This invasion, called a “Red Rose Rescue” by antis, was organized by a group, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society (CPLS), headed by Dr. Monica Miller, a longtime anti-abortion extremist.

These attacks are given little to NO notice in the press. Earlier this year, On April 30, the Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge, LA was entered illegally by antis and the police were required to remove them. Then on May 13, the Heritage Women’s Center in Grand Rapids, MI and on May 14, these same two Washington DC clinics were targeted by Miller’s group of extremists responsible for the New Jersey invasion. Miller and her group have been responsible for 5 attacks on clinics this year alone.

Since 2017, Miller’s group has been responsible for SEVENTEEN clinic invasions. SEVENTEEN. Not one FACE Act violation has charged in ANY of those matters. Not one. Oh, and they will be having a CONVENTION in December to celebrate and facilitate the continuation of this activity.

Back in August, another group of anti-abortion terrorists associated with the evangelical Christian group, Operation Save America (OSA) blockaded a clinic in Sterling Heights, MI. Because so far there have been minimal consequences for the antis for violating the FACE Act, we can only expect these activities to continue and to escalate.

But wait, there’s more!

On Thursday Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch decided she would appeal to the US Supreme Court, filing a supplemental brief to her initial request that the court review Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in this October session. The brief states that it would be an IDEAL case to settle conflicts between federal circuit court cases regarding interpretation of the recent June v. Russo decision. Fitch is attempting to get this case first in line to overturn Roe v. Wade. Oh, no worry, though…if they decline this one, there are 17 more right behind it, with this and one other one scheduled to possibly be heard this session.

But just in case that’s not enough for you, wait…there’s even more! On Thursday, our illustrious Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration that aligns our country with countries that are commonly considered the worst countries to be a woman, countries with terrible records on human rights, such as Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Sudan, Libya, as well as Poland, where a fetal anomaly ban on abortion was just passed, and women are taking to the streets in protest. This non-binding pact states the signers “reaffirm that there is no international right to abortion, nor any international obligation on the part of states to finance or facilitate abortion”.

So, let’s take a look at this Thursday as a whole. Just Thursday.

Anti-abortion extremists are just barging into clinics to interfere with clinic operations and endangering patients and providers with little or no consequences. There is no meaningful enforcement of the laws, neither federal or local, when antis violate them repeatedly. They appear to be above the law. These same antis from the sidewalk for years have lobbied legislators who have passed over 1,000 anti-abortion laws since Roe in 1973, and over 300 since 2010. Not only are antis above the law, they have been writing laws, for years.

And now antis, with all of lobbying and the laws they’ve passed, all of the special interest money they’ve spent on politicians that make appointments and sign treaties (Pompeo and federal judges), they are now getting themselves a seat on the Supreme Court to rule on the laws, like the 15 week ban, they had a hand in creating.

That was Thursday.

Yeah. We need to talk about Thursday.

We need to realize THIS is the reality. We need to talk about what can be done to move things in a more "abortion-positive" direction. Then do those things. The time is now to get started, because it's going to take a sustained effort from all of us who want abortion to be safe, legal and stigma-free, not just "a vote and a hope".

Get engaged in making change happen. That's how the magic happens. YOU are the magic.

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