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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2006Save last Mississippi abortion clinic!Jackson, Miss.-On July 15, feminists from the Women's Action Coalition of Memphis traveled here to rally in defense of Mississippi's last abortion clinic. Operation Save America (OSA, formerly Operation Rescue), a fanatical anti-choice organization, is trying to make Mississippi the "first abortion-free state." Over 350 women and men attended from a dozen states from as far as Portland, New York City, and Washington, D.C. National and state organizations, including NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and the ACLU, organized the event with local, grassroots groups and individuals. It was moving to see Southerners band together to protect their rights against such fanatical and institutional opposition. The rally at a public park in downtown Jackson, began smoothly with speakers and entertainment. But it was soon interrupted by about ten OSA protesters with posters of enlarged aborted fetuses and signs covered in hate speech. We covered the signs with our own so attention would not be diverted from the speakers. Though local police had agreed to protect the permitted rally, they refused to keep OSA from advancing toward the stage as OSA attempted to end our rally. We saw that the Jackson police were not willing to fairly handle the situation when they began pushing all of us out of the park because of a supposed bomb threat. All 350 of us were forced onto a narrow sidewalk, not more than 20 feet from the alleged bomb. But the police did not move all of the OSA protesters, leaving the pro-choice activists no alternative but to protest them. The police turned the park over to the OSA while they investigated a bomb threat that OSA obviously called in. Enraged at this blatant injustice, we continued our rally, marching around Governor Haley Barbour's mansion across from the park, chanting pro-choice slogans. Though we were thrown into disorder, the day still left us energized and passionate about protecting our human rights. Our message was heard loudly and clearly, and our unwillingness to step down in the face of such uncompromising hate and injustice stands as a message to the government of Mississippi and the U.S.: We will not go back! -Anna Women's Action Coalition, Memphis |
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