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Assault on Besieged Maryland Clinic Continues

This Clinic Needs Your Support - Please Sign Our Petition

Peaceful Presence volunteers from throughout the country provided a moral and spiritual force this summer protecting the besieged Maryland clinic where Dr. LeRoy Carhart provides life-saving abortion services. But even though the RCRC-trained volunteers succeeded in peacefully affirming the clinic and its services, the assault contines and the situation is dire.

The notorious Operation Rescue operatives and their allies who organized the week-long summer assault included veteran activists who are linked to the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, who provided abortion services in Wichita. They have vowed to shut down the Maryland clinic and drive out Dr. Carhart and are using intimidation tactics similar to those used against Dr. Tiller to achieve their goal.

Among the most frightening is the infiltration of the quiet suburban business park in Germantown where the clinic is located. A crisis pregnancy center was opened directly opposite the clinic so that anti-abortion activists can monitor the movements of staff and patients. Drivers entering the business park are stopped by antiabortion activists, who hand them leaflets demanding they tell local officials to shut down the legally operated clinic. They even staged a protest outside the elementary school attended by the child of the clinic landlord, during back-to-school night. The landlord, Todd Stave, has responded by establishing an organization, Voice for Choice, to promote peaceful, person-to-person counter-protests against groups that target abortion facilities, providers and patients, as well as their families and communities.

he Summer Celebration of Choice showed that it is not enough to be against those who harass and intimidate women and health care providers. Women's health and lives depend on your active commitment to safeguard access to services. Please donate now to support our trainings in Peaceful Presence and in pastoral counseling at clinics

Positive and Affirming: Volunteers Stand as A Spiritual and Moral Force
at Summer Celebration of Choice
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - At the clinic in Maryland where Dr. LeRoy Carhart provides life-saving abortion services, volunteers from throughout the country have come together as a moral and spiritual force for the week-long Summer Celebration of Choice. Half-way through the week, our enthusiasm continues to grow as new volunteers arrive and community support builds. And it has been a celebration -  positive and affirming, knowing that we are there because we believe women have the moral right to reproductive health care and we are committed to showing it by our presence and support.

Marchers at "Walk for Choice" on first day of Summer Celebration of Choice.

Women and men of all ages, church youth groups, and local students have joined us outside the clinic in Germantown - from those in their 60s and 70s who recall all too well the horrors of illegal back-alley abortion and ask, "Why are we still doing this?", to those in their late teens and 20s who have heard the stories and are determined to safeguard women's lives and rights. We wish everyone could join us but we know that's not possible - but we hope you will join us in spirit by signing our petition and making a donation. 

The Peaceful Presence training provided by Joan LaMunyon Sanford (left) and Rev. Aaron Payson (right) of RCRC on Sunday - the first day of the siege of the clinic by Operation Rescue - successfully prepared us to be positive and to refuse to engage in reaction or confrontation. We have been provoked by Operation Rescue participants, who repeatedly marched through the Summer of Choice area, making unnecessary comments. We kept our peace and stayed with our purpose of support for the clinic and access to services. 

The community response to Summer of Choice has been enthusiastic, ranging from an unexpected delivery of doughnuts and coffee to "thank yous" from neighbors who have been appalled by the Operation Rescue posters and the harassment and hate directed at clinic staff and patients. Local businesses have encouraged us and, in one memorable case, a small business hung a large pro-choice banner on its building.  In the extreme heat (it was over 100 degrees!) of the first days, our Unitarian Universalist friends provided sandwiches and cool drinks and hosted a potluck dinner. 

At mid-week in this Summer of Choice, it is clear it is not enough to be against those who have targeted Dr. Carhart and who harass and intimidate women and health care providers. We are moving beyond that dark place, knowing women's lives depend on our pro-choice presence.

But for now, these negative and violence-prone anti-choice "protests" will continue and our presence is needed. Please help support our trainings in Peaceful Presence and in pastoral counseling at clinics such as the one in Germantown. These are two proven ways to stand with women and safeguard choice! You can contribute online by clicking here. Your support sustains us in these hard times. 

Interfaith Prayer Circle

Wednesday, August 10, 2011- On Sunday, August 7, Reverend Lynn Strauss, a Unitarian Universalist minister serving in Montgomery County, Maryland, led Summer of Choice participants who wanted to gather together in prayer and meditation in an interfaith prayer circle. Reverend Strauss invoked a spirit of love that helped to dispel the sense of anger some of us were feeling and centered our feelings on the positive good that we were doing by standing in support of the clinic and Dr. Carhart.