Photo Courtesy of UWF Historic Trust
Ashley Faulkner / Photo Courtesy of Jennie McKeon for WUWF
CLINIC DEFENDERS Surrounded by a chorus of anti-abortion voices stands the only clinic providing abortions in Pensacola—American Family Planning. Considering the city's deadly track record against abortion doctors and activists, standing in solidarity with women seeking abortion services can come at a costly price. After days of anti-abortion activists taunting patients and staff in the clinic's parking lot, a nurse from American Family Planning asked for pro-abortion rights advocates to defend the clinic. Beginning last December, dozens of individuals and members from local activist groups sacrificed their weekends, and even weekdays, to support the clinic's patients and staff. Most of the abortion-rights activists who spoke with Inweekly asked not to use their surnames in fear of retaliation from the anti-abortion activists. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, American Family Planning was closed for most of 2020. When it reopened in December, anti-abortion protestors began to demonstrate outside their doors. Ryan, a member of the Socialist Trans Initiative and an organizer with Workers World Party, who uses the pronoun they, May 13, 2021
Standing for Abortion Rights in a City with a Violent History
felt the need to defend the clinic because of personal experiences when they went there for an abortion. "In 2017, I had to go to that clinic. I saw what was happening first-hand," Ryan shared. "The Las Vegas shooting had just happened, and one of them told my boyfriend at the time, who is now my husband, that he was worse than the shooter at Las Vegas." "We were both like, 'Oh, my God, I cannot believe he said that,' because we both know that was entirely wrong," Ryan said. Despite this personal experience, the protestors' tactics shocked Ryan when they began helping with clinic defense in December.
"I didn't even realize how aggressive these people were going to be, which sounds silly because I knew the history of Pensacola." Ryan "I didn't even realize how aggressive these people were going to be, which sounds silly because I knew the history of Pensacola. But it felt like a further-in-the-past sort of thing," Ryan said. "But those men that come
By Gina Castro and C. Scott Satterwhite out there, these old, white men that come out there, are very aggressive." Also among the clinic's defenders is Allison, the early bird of the group. Before her fellow activists arrived, she would set up at the clinic, placing windscreens, chairs, flags and her truck in the parking lot strategically to prevent protestors from getting too close to patients and staff. Throughout the months, Allison had a few physical confrontations. One day, while Allison went through her setup ritual, an anti-abortion protestor went behind the windscreens. When she asked him to leave, the older man grabbed her wrist. "I yanked it back and said, 'Don't touch me.' And he said, 'I'll do what I want.' So after he had my wrist, I pushed him, and he rolled," Allison said. "We called him 'Bouncing Bob' after that, but there were a couple other ones, too." Although Allison said she felt a little afraid by herself, making the patients and staff feel safe was worth the risk. Out of all the defenders, Allison understands best how dangerous being pro-abortion can be in Pensacola. Her stepbrother is Michael Frederick Griffin,
the first person to kill an abortion provider in the city. "That's the real reason I'm there. Because the idiots aren't stopping." Allison said. Her family, who identifies as antiabortion, is still supportive of Griffin and attended his parole in 2017. "He's not remorseful," Allison said. "His mother and brothers just encourage him."
A LONG HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND RESISTANCE
On May 3, 1993, Griffin's targeted assassination of Dr. David Gunn brought national attention to Pensacola. The murder happened outside the Pensacola Ladies Center, which had been bombed nine years earlier. Bill Caplinger is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola, a congregation that organized escorts to protect women seeking an abortion. In 1993, he had recently taken over as president of the church and got involved immediately after Dr. Gunn's murder. "When that assassination happened," said Caplinger, "Michael Griffin came up from behind [Dr. Gunn] and shot him a couple of times in the back and again when he was down." 11