The battle over abortion has been raging for decades, but now, in the midst of the debate over Healthcare Reform, passions are once again igniting.
It is a fight that rages every Saturday morning on Market Street outside of the EMW Women's Surgical Center,the only Abortion Clinic in the state of Kentucky. So it isn't surprising that the debate on this issue ends up on this door step.
"This is the fight between good against evil." Father Daniel Whelan/Pro-Life Protestor.
What happens at the Abortion Clinic is surprising, which is why all eyes are now on Louisville as the country watches how this community and the state grapple, with what seems to be a never ending battle, being waged every Saturday morning.
The battle lines are drawn early, Clinic Escorts, who help women get into the clinic, and pro-life protestors take their posts and stand their ground.
"What the escorts do is we provide personal space for people trying to access reproductive healthcare. We use our bodies to make space for people to make their own decision." Says Aundrina Radmacher, Clinic Escort.
To get to the clinic, women have to walk through a sea of protestors and escorts, shouting, praying, pushing, and in some cases, even fighting.
"I think it's diabolical." Father Dan Whelan says
"I think it's a circus, it's horrible that this happens." Tiffany Huffman, a Clinic Escort says.
The annual Pro-Life Mass held every year during the 40 days of Life Campaign is a movement to end abortion. The mass is followed by a rosary procession ending in prayer at the Market Street Clinic.
Monica Henderson is the director of "A Woman's Choice" a faith based organization that advocates choice, the choice of life. She says she knows the name of her clinic could be misleading, but makes no apologies.
"If they come in here and they insist on having an abortion, our policy is we don't tell them where it is and we don't give them their phone number. And that's just our policy because we are a pro-life organization. Technically are we being obstructionists? I guess you could view it that way," says Henderson.
The clinic says about two-thirds of the women who come into "A Woman's Choice" end up choosing life. As a result, they say they've saved 5,000 lives in 21 years
"Choosing life is a choice. Nobody can deny that life and carrying a pregnancy to term is one of the choices that a woman has," added Henderson.
That choice is strongly encouraged through counseling, a sonogram, free baby clothes and blankets, free GED and parenting classes and a display showcasing the regrets of those who chose abortion.
"This is our memorial to the unborn. When our post-abortion moms go through our post-abortion counseling process includes a memorial service. These are prayers that they have written to their unborn children," said Henderson.
The EMW Surgical Center saying that in the past few months, movements on both sides of the abortion debate have become more aggressive and more violent, pointing to the death of Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider who was gunned down in his Kansas church in May.
In response to the protests outside abortion clinics, some states and cities have started passing "buffer-zone" laws that prevent protestors from getting too close to women going to the clinics. Kentucky is not one of those states.
The Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project says lawmakers and even the ACLU shy away from the issue, since it pits the right to freedom of speech against the right to be free from harassment.
Derek Selznik/ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project Director said, "Of course the protestors have a right to protest, it's a first amendment right to free speech, of course though we need to be able to respect a woman's decision to come in here and she should be able to do that free from the threat of violence and harassment."
So despite tireless efforts on both sides, the fight continues on the streets, in religious places of worship, in clinics and outside the abortion clinic every Saturday morning.
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