Anti-Abortion Harassment: Feminist Majority Foundation Survey of Clinic Workers.
A few Sundays ago, Julie Burkhart’s morning peace and quiet was disturbed in a way that is all too common for people in her line of work. That morning, anti-abortion extremists descended upon Burkhart’s neighborhood and gathered outside her house to protest her profession—she is the executive director of the South Wind Women’s Center, a reproductive health care clinic in Wichita, Kansas. The extremists held signs saying “Prepare to Meet Thy God” and “Fear Him Who Has the Power to Cast You Into Hell.”
Perhaps most concerning, one sign read: “Where is Your Church?”
At first blush, this sign might not seem any more disturbing than the others. However, its troublesome meaning becomes clear when you consider the history of Wichita. Less than six years ago, George Tiller, a Wichita abortion doctor and one of the most high-profile abortion providers in the country, was assassinated point-blank on a Sunday morning in the foyer of his church. Tiller was the eighth abortion provider murdered in this country for his work.
After Tiller’s murder, his clinic closed. Burkhart’s clinic opened almost four years later in the same building and is the only abortion clinic in Wichita. She and others who work at the clinic have been the target of abortion extremists almost since day one.
More: Anti-Abortion Harassment: Feminist Majority Foundation Survey of Clinic Workers.