By Debra Sweet
WHEN: Friday & Saturday August 28/29 ALL DAY!
WHERE: Abortion & Contraception Clinic of Nebraska in Bellevue NE (Omaha suburb)
CONTACT: World Can’t Wait 866 973 4463 email or Kansas National Organization for Women 785 212 0162 email
We are glad to announce that Terry O’Neil, the President of the National Organization for Women, and Ellie Smeal of the Fund for a Feminist Majority will join local NOW leaders and Debra Sweet in defending Dr. Carhart!
Dr. George Tiller’s Wichita clinic, which cared for tens of thousands of women over thirty-six years, was closed a week after he was assassinated on May 31, shot in the head at close range. One of his colleagues, Dr. Leroy Carhart, an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, has asserted that he will care for Dr. Tiller’s patients and continue the provision of late-abortion services, stepping forward to fill the great need left by Tiller’s absence.
Dr. Carhart worked at Dr. Tiller’s clinic, and has his own clinic in Bellevue, Nebraska. In 1991, his home and barn were burned to the ground in an arson claimed by anti-abortion activists. This spurred Dr. Carhart to devote more of his practice to providing abortions, and to challenge laws restricting abortion access.
This brave stance on the part of this 67 yr. old doctor was Operation Rescue’s cue to turn all attention to him as their next "target #1." To that end, they have announced their "visit" to Dr. Carhart’s clinic the weekend of August 28 and 29 for "rescue outreach" and a "rally for victory," with the aim of closing down his clinic.
They have years of practice conducting this "rescue" outside Dr. Tiller’s clinic, using giant grotesque images of gore to harass patients, throngs of hysterical zombies throwing themselves in front of cars, and "counseling" women entering the parking lot by screaming at them, lying about what kind of help they would offer, and doing all this in the name of a hateful brand of Christianity.
Read about Dr. Carhart in Newsweek. View the local news coverage of the developing situation here, where the Bellevue, Nebraska police are reported to say "they couldn’t promise Carhart would be safe once he leaves" (the clinic).
"Either this killing [of Dr. Tiller] will succeed in creating a climate where abortion providers cannot do their work and no one else joins them in that work, or it will be answered by growing numbers of people waking up, coming off the sidelines, defending our doctors and our clinics, and reversing the whole dynamic that has led to this situation where not only abortion, but birth control too, is imperiled." –Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution Newspaper, member of World Can’t Wait’s advisory board.
In that spirit, we are mobilizing to go to Nebraska to defend Dr. Carhart and stand up for women’s lives at a crucial moment. Even though abortion, one of the most common medical procedures done in the US (over 45 million women have had abortions) is still legal, if we don’t stand up for the doctors who provide this health care, women won’t actually have this most basic right to decide whether, when, or if we are to be mothers.
Listen to Dr. Carhart and Debra Sweet speak on Beneath the Surface with Michael Slate (KPFK in LA).
We are asking all the leaders of the women’s movement, to join us next weekend in Nebraska. World Can’t Wait, the Kansas Chapter and the Dupage (IL) Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), individuals and small groups from all over the Midwest and beyond will be at Dr. Carhart’s clinic August 28/28.
Stay tuned and check Chicago World Can’t Wait activist Lina Thorne’s blog here, where we will be reporting from Nebraska. Contact us asap if you can come, and support this effort by donating here.