So often, clinic escorts don’t tell people that they volunteer to help people outside clinics that provide abortion care. This matters for a few reasons. One reason is that when they don’t share this part of their lives, people have no idea that clinic escorts are even a thing.

Another reason is the stigma of abortion. Escorts sometimes must worry how other people will react when they talk about helping people accessing abortion care. Because the stigmatizing anti-abortion false narratives have been so successful, many escorts don’t talk about their volunteer work for fear of reprisals.

When escorts DO tell people about their volunteer work, if the person they are talking to even knows it’s a thing, most of the time the first thing the person says is “Well, isn’t that dangerous”? In speaking with a volunteer recently, that is EXACTLY the discussion they had with someone. And it happens more than we know.

We should talk about that.

People seem to recall anti-abortion violence that happened thirty years ago, and they believe it’s dangerous outside clinics because of anti-abortion protesters’ actions, yet it seems people want to look the other way until it is put in front of them.

The abuse of patients, providers, and clinic escorts has never stopped and continues to worsen. Clinic escorts and providers have had to file for retraining orders against protesters, have damaged hearing from the bullhorns used by antis, have been followed, doxxed, and threatened. A Planned Parenthood clinic in Knoxville was recently destroyed by arson; anti-abortion stigma and lies drive these dangerous behaviors.

If it’s known to people that the anti-abortion protesters are outside clinics making things unsafe for patients, providers and escorts, why isn’t anyone addressing this?

Is it because antis hide behind their religion and because “freedom of speech”? Is it the stigma the antis have built around abortion that makes it acceptable? Is it that we think people accessing and providing abortion deserve such abusive treatment?

NO ONE should feel threatened at clinics. NO ONE. Patients at clinics shouldn’t have to have escorts to buffer them from anti-abortion abuse and intimidation from their car door to the clinic door, yet here we are. If people ARE aware of the potential and real dangers from anti-abortion protesters, which it seems is the case, then why isn’t the anti-abortion protesters’ behavior not being addressed and work being done to change this and to protect people at clinics?

Why? Why do we as a society allow this?

We really should talk about that.