Putting Love into Practice
Choices escorts are out every Saturday attempting to protect women against the harassment and bullying of anti-choice demonstrators.
February 11, 2019
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Choices escorts are out every Saturday attempting to protect women against the harassment and bullying of anti-choice demonstrators.
BBC.com reports that on the 46th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark US ruling that made abortion legal, NY signed a new abortion rights bill that Merle Hoffman finds “overdue”.
Is New York supportive of abortion rights? As one of the first states to legalize it and as a state considered the “Abortion Capital of America,” one might think so. But if you looked at what happens at Choices every Saturday morning you could have another view. Even before I moved to our current location on Jamaica Avenue in 2012, the large organized anti-abortion protests began.
A federal district court judge last week denied a preliminary injunction to prevent anti-choice protesters from demonstrating outside Choices Women’s Medical Center, saying they did not “harass, annoy, or alarm” people during Saturday protests that have become routine since 2012.
Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court has dire implications across the board, including the real possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
Women now find themselves having to travel significant distances for abortion services. There are several reasons why. More states are implementing abortion waiting periods. Choices Women’s Medical Center offers abortion services to 24 weeks for out of state patients.
In a major victory for access to abortion services, New York’s Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has asked a federal judge for an injunction against anti-choice abortion protestors from blocking patient access to a reproductive health clinic, Choices Women’s Medical Center. Schneiderman filed the federal lawsuit in Brooklyn Federal Court on June 20, 2017, to end the persistent harassment of patients seeking women’s reproductive services, citing multiple local, state and federal laws.
So this Saturday WHEN THOUSANDS ARE MARCHING I will be where I have been for the last 46 years…with my patients, staff, and volunteer clinic escorts.
A pilot study in New York, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington will allow women to receive abortion-inducing drugs through the mail and be counseled by video. “It’s the future,” said Esther Priegue, the director of counseling at Choices Women’s Medical Center in Queens, NY, where the first of the pilot programs launched.
Recent legislature in certain states has made it difficult and sometimes impossible for women to access vital abortion services close to home. Choices understands how
Choices Women’s Medical Center is committed to meeting the needs of our patients, regardless of age, gender identity, nationality, or culture, in a safe, comfortable environment that is completely confidential.