Kim Greene

Opinion contributor

With the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court appears to have shifted to the far right. So many of us worry: What will happen to Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose the abortion option?

But the legality of access to abortion isn’t the only thing of concern. So let’s talk about physical access to safe and legal abortion.

Laws and court decisions like Roe v. Wade determine whether and where abortion care is available in our communities. But the story of accessing care does not end there.

What does it feel like to seek abortion care? If you have had an abortion or accompanied a loved one to her appointment here in Louisville, you know that making your way to the clinic for your medical care can be terrifying and feel unsafe.

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Most of the time, the sidewalk outside EMW Women’s Surgical Center, currently the only abortion clinic in the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky, is quiet. Traffic rushes by, but pedestrians are more likely to be found one block north on Main Street. EMW looks like the kind of building you wouldn’t notice.

But that’s only most of the time.

Saturday mornings are a different story. That’s when patients make their way into the clinic for abortion care. Under the guise of “counseling,” anti-abortion protesters set up audio equipment inches away from the building’s property line and direct speakers toward its walls and windows, blasting music or sermons. Others hold huge signs with graphic photos of bloody fetuses or wear vests to make themselves look like the clinic escorts who walk with patients to the clinic’s doors.

Some of the protesters threaten, harass or even assault patients as they arrive at the clinic, physically blocking them from entering or approaching them before they get out of their cars. Some patients have reported being shoved and pushed by protesters. Other protesters shout epithets like “baby killer” or “you will bleed out and die when you get home” or “it’s KKK Paradise in there” (to an African-American patient. Simply put, the sidewalk in front of the clinic becomes chaotic—and dangerous.

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This creates a toxic environment for people seeking medical care. In surveys of over 2,500 EMW patients, more than 87 percent of patients reported being bothered in some way by the protesters outside the clinic. Nearly half reported that the protesters made them feel “scared, nervous, or unsafe.”

To make matters worse, violence, threats and harassment directed at patients (and volunteer clinic escorts) have all escalated in the last few years. In 2017, the extremist anti-abortion group Operation Save America, which is not based in Louisville, attempted to blockade the entrance to the clinic. Ten protesters were arrested, and a judge ordered that a temporary “buffer zone” be created outside the clinic while OSA was in town.

The buffer zone worked — patients were able to enter the clinic safely within the 15-by-7.5-foot zone. Protesters retained their First Amendment right to protest outside of the zone.

As patients encounter more and more harassment and threats of violence, it is clear that these serious problems need to be addressed year-round. No one in Louisville should have to risk their safety to seek medical care or walk on a public sidewalk.

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This is where you come in. Louisville’s Metro Council is considering a proposal to create a permanent safety zone around EMW. Similar measures have been effective in other cities, from Pittsburgh to Boulder to Pensacola. These laws are a necessary, effective and an increasingly common way to improve patient safety while respecting the First Amendment right to protest.

If you’re upset about the Supreme Court, if you’re nervous about the future of Roe v. Wade, if you’re concerned about safety in our city — now is the time to take action. Start by signing the petition supporting a safety zone, and then like Louisville Safety Zone advocacy committee on Facebook so you’ll get updates. Commit to volunteering with the committee at a phone bank, canvass or other event between now and Thanksgiving. Above all, find your Metro Council member and get in touch with her or him to let them that you support a safety zone.

Together we can make our city safer for patients, health care providers, and the public.

Kim Greene is a Louisville attorney and chair of the board of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc.