The Conversation (0)
Narjas Zatat
May 26, 2019
Anti-abortion legislation is sweeping across some of the southern states in America while violence and disruption against abortion clinics in the US continues to rise, demonstrated in a viral video at Kentucky's last abortion clinic.
Six states, including Kentucky, have only one abortion clinic left. The video, originally filmed in April but has since gone viral, shows a woman with her face covered trying to make her way through a throng of anti-abortion protesters.
As she walks through, religious protesters can be heard telling her to "repent", offering to adopt her baby and using inflammatory language accusing the pregnant woman of "murdering" her unborn child.
Needless to say, the video has been widely condemned online.
The protesters are "cruel and abusive".
Some women shared their experience with fundamentalists at other abortion clinics.
Others are praising the escorts who helped the woman walk through the crowd.
According to a report by the National Abortion Federation, the increase in violence was attributed, at least in part, to president Donald Trump and his administration's rhetoric.
The report shows a significant increase in obstruction, vandalism and trespassing, with 1,135 incidents of trespassing recorded in 2018 - the most since the NAF began tracking the crime in 1999.
There were also 3,038 instances of obstruction, a 78 per cent increase compared to the previous year, and nearly 100,000 instances of picketing.
“Anti-choice individuals and groups have been emboldened by the rhetoric of president Trump, vice president Pence, and other elected officials and we are seeing this play out in more instances of activities meant to intimidate abortion providers and disrupt patient services,” said Dr Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, who serves as interim president and CEO of NAF.
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