"Welcome! Welcome! This clinic will stay open!"

This past weekend Operation Rescue, an extremist anti-abortion group, planned to gather outside the doors of Dr. Carhart’s clinic where later abortions are provided in Omaha, Nebraska. However, pro-choice folks organized and showed up to counter-protest, providing support to the clinic and the women going to the clinic. In addition to pro-choice bodies on the defense lines, over $7,000 was raised through this pledge-a-picketer program.

This is incredibly inspiring, and I hope that folks continue to stay mobilized; the safety of our clinics and of women in need of services at abortion clinics is at the forefront of our minds in the wake of Dr. Tiller’s murder. However, access to abortion is about women’s lives and I hope that as time goes on we can still continue to prioritize keeping our abortion clinics open and safe.

Please check out this blog, written by one of the pro-choice activists who traveled to Nebraska this past weekend, for some footage of the wonderful folks helping welcome patients to Dr. Carhart’s clinic. It is people like these activists that help provide support for people in direct service, both in the clinics and at the many funds around the country, who are working tirelessly to get women the health care they need and deserve.