Saturday, Operation Rescue/Operation Save America launched an aggressive week-long siege against reproductive health clinics and abortion care providers in southern Louisiana. The Feminist Majority Foundation, in collaboration with the New Orleans Abortion Fund and the National Abortion Federation, has been on-site coordinating volunteers.
The annual siege is expected to run through Saturday, July 26, but already, several dozen Operation Rescue protesters have moved these forceful assemblies to doctors’ private residences, riling neighbors in the process with their megaphones, explicit and invasive signage. A new Planned Parenthood facility in New Orleans, which is still under construction, has been targeted by the demonstrators. The local Catholic bishop has organized boycotts of contractors working on the unfinished facility.
“It’s an encroachment on my right as a neighbor. I’ve spoken to the police here. I feel like they have more of a right than I do as someone who lives here to spout all of this hatred whereas I’m supposed to just roll over and take it,” one neighbor told WDSU-TV following raucous demonstrations at a doctor’s home just outside of New Orleans. The protesters returned to the doctor’s home on Sunday, distributing flyers with doctors’ photographs and other identifying information. Neighbors, however, were outraged by these tactics and a group of about 20 came out, some with signs, to support the doctor.
“Hundreds of residents, students, and pro-choice volunteers from local community organizations have turned out in Louisiana to support doctors, clinics, and patients,” said duVergne Gaines, Director of the Feminist Majority Foundation National Clinic Access Project (NCAP). “The Feminist Majority Foundation has been on the ground training volunteers and thanks to our joint efforts, the clinics have stayed open and all patients are being seen.”
Training sessions led by the FMF National Clinic Access Project (NCAP) have drawn scores of students, clinic escorts, and legal observers who are countering the week of extreme anti-abortion protests.
Media Resources: WDSU-TV 7/18/14
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