It’s 10:36pm, and abortion clinic defenders are just getting home from this week’s ground zero – the Germantown, Md. clinic of Dr. Lee Carhart. Operation Rescue had declared the past nine days “Summer of Mercy 2.0,” harkening back to the original Summer of Mercy actions that had targeted Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita, KS.
We’re tired, our feet hurt, and some of us (and our signs) are still damp from an early afternoon downpour – but we are proud to have stood up to Operation Rescue every day this week, and outlasted them every single day.
The Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project has provided daily legal observers during the Summer of Mercy siege at the Germantown clinic, as well as organizers, training, resources and law enforcement expertise.
Today, every patient entered and left the clinic safely, and Dr. Carhart and his staff drove away to our cheers and thanks. But tomorrow is another day, and we will again be out in force – most of us leaving home at 6am or earlier – to make sure that, as our FMF signs say: This Clinic Stays Open.
