Protect Kentucky Access Sign Since 2010, I have been an abortion escort at EMW Women’s Surgical Center. My first article for this blog was a few months after I started escorting. We have been silent since June 2021. There has just been a lot going on in the world since then.  Since June of 2022 we have been in a holding pattern in Kentucky. First, abortion was banned due to the SCOTUS decision on Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It has been a roller coaster ride of ban, then injunction, then trigger law, then injunction, then lawsuit ban. Abortion was briefly illegal in June ..read more

Who are the Legal Observers? Many people have noticed Legal Observers on the sidewalks around EMW Women’s Surgical Center over the past 3 years. They are wearing caps and/or badges that say, “NCAP Trained Legal Observer”. They carry cell phones and take notes. Who are these people? What are they doing? Are they taking photos of people who have appointments at EMW? NO, they are not taking photos of people going to the clinic. They adhere to strict guidelines not to take photos of any patient or companion. If you see them with their cell phones up, rest assured they are not taking photos of you ..read more

Our local antis routinely shove literature into the hands of clients and random pedestrians alike. Social conditioning and not wanting to appear rude, many people accept the handouts and move on. Most times it is discarded within a few minutes of receiving it. Sometimes they just throw it in a trash bin on the way past. Other times it’s handed to escorts and they ask us to please get rid of it. When that happens the antis accuse us of taking the pamphlets to prevent clients from learning the truth. No, our goal is to keep them from being thrown out randomly littering downtown.   ..read more

“Pro-life” people have been chipping away at abortion access for years. They’ve already made access to this vital healthcare service an obstacle course.  The anti-abortion extremists aren’t satisfied with this approach – they want to stop all abortion now.  They want personhood amendments.  They want to charge women with murder for abortion.  This is not new. But now?  After the election?  The antis think they’ve already won. They haven’t.  I know they haven’t, partly because of the amazing surge of support we’ve gotten from you all.  Message after ..read more

We had a relatively new protester on the sidewalk this week.  I don’t know his name – someone called him Herman, and that works for me.  New protesters are sometimes a bit overly enthusiastic about their opportunity to save babies.  They don’t always understand the unwritten agreements between us and the antis.  Herman is a prime example of that. In our first picture, Herman is excited because he saw an escort talking to someone in a car.  He runs to the Abolish Human Abortion crew to let them know. (Picture shows AHA members, with one sign, and Herman, a white ma ..read more

There is a really great article published by Meaghan Winter in Slate this week. It details how the decision by the Supreme Court in 1992 for the case Casey vs Planned Parenthood set the stage for all the restrictions we now face in accessing abortion. Go read the whole article, but here is what I want to concentrate on in this article: “Yet it’s no wonder the public doesn’t fully grasp Casey’s influence, despite the problems the decision has helped create for women seeking access to reproductive health care. Lower courts have interpreted the decision in myriad and sometimes conflicting ways. B ..read more

The recent headline cases of women who have miscarried or resorted to self-abortion attempts to end an unwanted pregnancy (Purvi Patel , Kenlissa Jones and Anna Yocca) have had many people saying ” How could they?” Some from an anti-abortion stance that seems to value the life of a fetus over the woman carrying it. Others from a perspective of the fact that abortion is still legal and has been legal nationwide since 1973, Why would anyone take such risks when they could just go to a doctor? Easy. Legal does not mean accessible, or affordable. This is my story and I am going to smash some stere ..read more

Walt wouldn’t have wanted me to write this post.  If I could tell him I was going to write a blog post in his memory, I think he would have looked uncomfortable – the same look he got when I complimented him or told him how much we appreciated him.  He would have shook his head, “no,” and said, “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”   Walt was the most modest and unassuming person I’ve known. But I think he would have approved of this post in the end, or at least agreed to let me do it, if I explained it was really for us.  If I told him that we just wanted to share a few memorie ..read more

TW:  Violence, rape On the sidewalk, the “antis” look at us, escorts as well as clients, and based on our ages, the vehicles we drive or don’t drive, the clothes we wear, the overheard snippets of friendly conversation, they’ll tailor the harassment to what they believe is the greatest effect. “Does your mother know you’re here – you may be an outcast!” “That’s what a real baby is supposed to look like.” “You are not young, nearing the end of your life – repent now!” and memorably, “Go home and put some decent clothes on!” We immediately think through all the counter-arguments, the snappy ..read more

Protect Kentucky Access Sign Since 2010, I have been an abortion escort at EMW Women’s Surgical Center. My first article for this blog was a few months after I started escorting. We have been silent since June 2021. There has just been a lot going on in the world since then.  Since June of 2022 we have been in a holding pattern in Kentucky. First, abortion was banned due to the SCOTUS decision on Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It has been a roller coaster ride of ban, then injunction, then trigger law, then injunction, then lawsuit ban. Abortion was briefly illegal in June ..read more