Buffalo clinic defenders repulse anti-choice bigots
1992Shirley Pasholk 1992-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 1
Operation Rescue (OR), the right-wing anti-abortion outfit, came to Buffalo, N.Y., vowing to lay siege to the women's health clinics in the area. Buffalo Mayor James Griffin extended a public welcome to the OR lawbreakers. Accordingly, OR zealots from as far away as California were flown in to take part in the attack—-which was patterned after last summer's 46-day blockade of clinics in Wichita, Kan.
But hundreds of pro-choice activists also came to Buffalo to defend the clinics. Buffalo GYN Women services clinic director Marilyn Buckham explained, "This is a national defense organized by Buffalo women. We're inviting people from all over because it's a national issue."
In the end, Operation Rescue was outnumbered, out-mobilized, and defeated. Not one clinic had to close its doors.
The pro-choice defense effort in Buffalo See back page Clinic began on Saturday, April 11, when about 1000 pro-choice supporters rallied in the rain. Addressing the rally, Eleanor Smeal, of the Fund for the Feminist Majority, pledged, "There will never be another Wichita."
At a news conference, she said that the Wichita protests were dragged out because the abortion-rights activists did not do enough to oppose Operation Rescue. She predicted that the mobilization against OR in Buffalo would put a quick end to the hassle. • "Operation Rescue will have to find new ground, and it's going to be harder and harder for them to find a place to terrorize women," Smeal said.
As soon as Operation Rescue announced that it was making Buffalo a target, pro-choice activists in that city started getting a flood of telephone calls from other areas offering help. Eight pro-choice groups joined forces and drew thousands of activists into the Buffalo United for Choice coalition. The campaign started with fund raising events and mailings, and later organized training for clinic-defense groups.
"Its my body"
On April 20, the day that Operation Rescue announced they would "shut down" the clinics, hundreds of pro-choice supporters gathered before dawn in front of every Buffalo-area clinic. The defenders sang, "It's my body, and I'll choose if I want to!" Some waved signs reading, "My body is (continued on page 3) defenders in Twin Cities, Minn. Young women like these were the backbone for CHL cros clinic defense in Buffalo, N.Y.
----- pull-quotes -----
What next after April 5?