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Abortion Clinic Escort Opens Up About 'Disgusting, Degrading And Racist' Attacks On Patients

Abortion Clinic Escort On 'Disgusting, Degrading And Racist' Attacks On Patients
Ali Zaslav
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The Supreme Court has raised questions about buffer zone laws that create a safe space between protestors and patients at abortion clinics, but clinic escort Michelle Colon says eliminating the buffer would have dangerous consequences.

Colon has worked for 10 years at Jackson Women's Health Organization, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, where most clients are African American and most anti-abortion protestors -- or "antis," as Colon calls them -- are white. Colon opened up to HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri about the alarming behavior she's witnessed there.

"[Protestors] literally just go up to every car that comes up the street. They automatically assume that every African American driver is coming to the clinic," she said. "They say some of the most disgusting, degrading and racist comments to them about killing the dream, killing the next Barack Obama, the next Martin Luther King."

The tension outside the clinic often creates physical danger as patients come and go.

"Some of our patients have had fender-bender car accidents upon trying to enter into our driveway because antis are blocking the driveway," Colon said.

The Supreme Court's worry about buffer zone laws centers on whether they violate protestors' free speech rights, but Colon argues that the intense documentation of patients who visit the clinic crosses a line.

"They take video of our patients going in and out, they take video of their partners and their support systems and they take video and camera shots of their license plates and then they put that information online, on the web for everyone to see," she said.

But Colon and the other clinic escorts who joined HuffPost Live are clear that they plan to fight for the right to protect their patients.

"We are reproductive freedom fighters, and will will not allow them to harass our patients, we will not allow them to intimidate our staff and our doctors, and they're going to stay out of our driveway and stay out of our walkway," she said.

To learn more about Michelle Colon and other "reproductive freedom fighters" across the U.S., watch the full HuffPost Live conversation below.

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Before You Go

Strange Places For Anti-Abortion Measures
Sharia(01 of08)
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A week before North Carolina Republicans turned to motorcycle safety, they attached proposed anti-abortion measures to a bill that would also have guarded the state from "foreign law." The bill read much like a number of other anti-Sharia proposals that have popped up around the nation, except this one contained a host of restrictions on abortion coverage and providers. (credit:AP)
Motorcycles(02 of08)
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When their abortion-Sharia combination effort failed, North Carolina Republicans concocted a new plan: Tack the anti-abortion measure onto something perhaps even less related.That bill was initially meant to increase penalties on drivers that threatened motorcyclists with their actions on the road. As of this week, it would also impose strict standards on abortion clinics and prohibit sex-selective abortions. (credit:Getty Images)
Flood Insurance(03 of08)
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) injected abortion politics into an otherwise uncontroversial flood insurance bill in 2012. The legislation, initially meant to boost the National Flood Insurance Program on the cusp of hurricane season, was expected to pass, until Paul slid in a measure claiming that life begins at fertilization.Paul claimed he was justified in adding the amendment because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wouldn't allow a freestanding vote on fetal personhood. His measure eventually succeeded in stalling the legislation. (credit:AP)
Cybersecurity(04 of08)
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Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) filed an amendment to a 2012 cybersecurity bill that would have imposed a 20-week abortion ban in Washington, D.C.The cybersecurity bill ultimately failed, in part because senators couldn't reach a deal on a host of amendments that had been appended to the bill. (credit:AP)
Homeland Security(05 of08)
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Even a Homeland Security appropriations bill couldn't escape the reach of anti-abortion Republicans earlier this year. Attached to the GOP-controlled House's $46 billion spending bill was Rep. John Carter's (R-Texas) measure to block ICE from using agency funding to provide abortion services for detainees except in the case of rape, incest or if the life of the mother would be endangered.According to Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman, that was already department policy, and Homeland Security had not paid for abortion services since its 2003 creation. (credit:Getty Images)
Transportation(06 of08)
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A very passable transportation bill was thrown a curveball in 2012 when Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) submitted an amendment that would have overridden the Obama administration's new contraception coverage rule and allowed any employer to refuse to cover any kind of health care service by citing "moral reasons." The Senate eventually rejected the proposal, and after months of wrangling, the bill was passed by both the House and Senate. (credit:Getty Images)
Agricultural Subsidies(07 of08)
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In 2011, then-Sen. Jim Demint (R-S.C.) took aim at Planned Parenthood with an amendment to an appropriations bill dealing with agricultural subsidies.His bill would have ensured that federal funding toward telemedicine services couldn't have been used by the women's health services provider. Planned Parenthood has tested a system that allows women seeking abortions to connect remotely with a qualified physician to discuss using mifepristone, or RU-486. Trials done in Iowa months before DeMint's amendment showed that the practice was safe. (credit:Getty Images)
Business Tax Credits(08 of08)
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In 2012, Republicans in the New Hampshire state House tried to sneak an anti-abortion provision into an unrelated bill regarding tax credits for businesses. Earlier in the year, lawmakers had voted down a GOP attempt to pass the abortion restrictions by themselves. The state Senate ultimately shot down the second attempt as well. (credit:Getty Images)
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