Anger and jubilation outside clinics paints portrait of deep divide
The scene outside the Affiliated Medical Services abortion clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is as vivid a portrait of America’s fraying society as you can get.
Two policemen stand at the clinic’s doors, barring a group of pro-life activists singing “this is a day for victory” as they pace up and down outside.
Their victory is printed in black and white on the clinic’s door, where a sign reads: “Due to the recent Supreme Court Decision, Affiliated Medical Services is no longer able to provide abortion care services.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling to revoke nationwide abortion rights and leave the matter to each state has brought an abrupt halt to abortion services in Wisconsin.
It is one of 13 states with so-called “trigger laws” in place, meaning near-total abortion bans have come into effect.
Nine more states are expected to enact similar restrictions within weeks, leaving roughly half of American women without abortion access.
In the case of Wisconsin, the Supreme Court ruling has restored a 173-year-old law that makes performing abortions a crime punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Procedures to save a woman’s life are permitted, but there are no exceptions for rape or incest.
Josh Kaul, Wisconsin’s democratic attorney general, has said he will not enforce the state’s 173-yearold abortion ban.
But with local law enforcement now armed with the power to prosecute abortion providers, none feel able to continue operating.
As news of the Supreme Court ruling broke on Friday, Affiliated Medical Services (AMS) was one of several women’s clinics to immediately suspend abortion services.
On Friday, scores of angry demonstrators lined the streets nearby, denouncing the decision and demanding a return to abortion access.
But by Saturday morning, it was the pro-life activists who were the most visible presence on the city’s streets.
Timothy Bachleitner, 43, sang jubilantly as he walked outside AMS yesterday.
Mr Bachleitner said he had been coming to protest outside AMS and other abortion clinics for 13 years.
“But today was a little bit of a victory celebration,” he said. “After 49 years and five months, the Supreme Court made the right decision and overturned Roe v Wade [the
‘Today, our daughters have less rights than their grandmothers’
landmark 1973 ruling granting nationwide abortion rights]”.
As he spoke to The Sunday Telegraph, another man walking by yelled: “The Supreme Court has no balls.”
Just three miles away, a Planned Parenthood clinic looked completely shuttered, with its doors bolted shut and the lights off inside.
Nearly 70 abortion procedures with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin scheduled for Friday and Saturday had to be cancelled, Kathy King, the agency’s medical director, said.
“Today, our daughters have less rights than their mothers, less rights than their grandmothers,” said Tanya Atkinson, of Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin.