HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – One of the world's most-read newspapers reached out to a Huntsville women's rights activist this week for perspective on the battle over abortion in Alabama.

Pamela Willis Watters said The Guardian contacted her Monday, shortly after U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson struck down a key provision of the Alabama Women's Health and Safety Act of 2013.

The influential, London-based daily newspaper asked Watters to write about the ruling for its website. She agreed, and the opinion piece was published Tuesday morning under the headline, "I've witnessed anti-abortion violence in the American south. At last, the law is on the side of women's rights again." Click here to read her column.

Watters wrote about her experiences as a volunteer patient escort at the now-closed Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives on Madison Street in Huntsville.

"We have been hit, pushed, shoved, called vile names, preached at through a bull horn and more – all in the name of 'compassionate sidewalk counseling,'" she wrote.

Watters also took aim at "ultra-right wing politicians" from Alabama who are "determined to spend more time regulating women's bodies than creating much-needed jobs."

The Alabama Women's Health and Safety Act forces abortion clinics to meet the same building standards as ambulatory surgical centers, including doors and hallways wide enough to accommodate patient gurneys. Planned Parenthood Southeast and Reproductive Health Services sued over a portion of the law that says abortion clinic doctors must have admitting privileges at a hospital in the same city.

Thompson ruled that the admitting privileges requirement is unconstitutional, saying it would place an undue burden on a woman's right to an abortion.

"We're glad this time, at least, the court had our back," wrote Watters, who helped found a group earlier this year called Alabama Reproductive Rights Advocates.

Watters said a friend who lives in London told her the column was featured for a while Tuesday on the homepage of theguardian.com, which claims to be the third most widely read news site in the world.

Nearly 240 guardian.com readers had commented on Watters' column as of Wednesday afternoon, and many were sympathetic. "They were pretty mild compared to AL.com," she joked.