Birmingham, Alabama and Wichita, Kansas are the targets of protests by anti-abortion groups this weekend. Starting tomorrow, Operation Save America — led by Flip Benham — will be in Birmingham for a week-long protest with the stated purpose of closing down the city’s last two abortion clinics: a Planned Parenthood clinic and the New Women, All Women clinic, which was the site of a fatal bombing in 1998 by Eric Robert Rudolph. The group has planned sidewalk protests, vigils, press conferences, and rallies. Confirmed guests include state Senator Hank Erwin and former Judge Roy Moore who left office after refusing to remove a statue of the 10 Commandments from the state Supreme Court building.
Also this weekend, a group of Christian young people on a cross-country tour from a national revival in Nashville, Tennessee to San Francisco are planning to stop in Wichita, Kansas to join Operation Rescue for a three-day anti-abortion protest. Vigils and prayer sessions are scheduled to happen outside of Dr. George Tiller’s clinic, one of the few US clinics where women from across the country can access later-term abortions.
Feminist Majority Foundation senior staff organizers will be in Birmingham and Wichita this week to help defend the targeted clinics from violence and to ensure that business will continue as usual. According to FMF staff on the ground, support from local pro-choice volunteers has been strong.
