At the mills

This morning Michelle and I went down to Surgi Center together. Crossroads was there holding signs and praying across the street from the clinic. THere were about 6 of us doing sidewalk counseling. I hung out in the parking lot to initiate conversation and then Michelle was on the sidewalk and took over there. Most people were very angry today, or they would laugh at us mockingly. Michelle was nearly punched by an employee of Surgi for asking about their license which was dropped in April. Usually people are willing to talk and are more open about why they want to abort their child. But today there was a very angry spirit, especially in the men. They were just furious that we would suggest the mother actually had a choice.

I handed the Woman's Right to Know book to one young woman and her boyfriend came unglued. He was livid, and got right in my face and told me to f*** etc., followed by go to hell. One of the employees drove up- you can always spot their cars because they don't drive anything cheaper than a BMW, doing abortions is very good money, and I asked her why Surgi didn't have a license. She was confused, and said she didn't know about that. Then I showed her the Woman's Right to Know books and said that we were giving them to every woman and it was state law that if you flip through that book, you must wait 24 hours to abort- so if they did any abortions we were calling DHR right away. The clinics are supposed to be giving these booklets to the women when they schedule the appt. But instead they refer everyone to a website, and then have them sign a waiver before the abortion.

Well, a lot of couples kept going in, and we couldn't figure out where the doctor or anesthesiologist (how do you spell that) were. The doctor has a special parking spot behind the building. ALso, the security guard, Zimbabwe, wasn't there, which was weird.

Zimbabwe finally showed up, and said that he wasn't really working there anymore, but they called him in this morning. He directly into the clinic. Then all the employees gathered behind the building and had a meeting. They were very animated, and this was all very strange. Finally an employee left and paused on the sidewalk and said that they were letting everyone go because there was no doctor available. So there wouldn't be any abortions today. Zimbabwe walked out a short time later, and said we were really doing good today because we sure had things stirred up inside. They were going crazy. We kept waiting, and then a lot of people starting coming out. One girl in particular was furious because she had payed with a cashiers check, and instead of giving her the cashiers check back, they issued her a check (withholding some of the money) which had of course, Surgi's name. She didn't want that name in her banking records. She said the place was horrible and dirty and she wanted to get it shut down. So I said, "Here's what you do. Call the Governor and ask that he enforce the law and require that all abortion clinics have an Ambulatory Surgical License." She looked at me surprised and said, "I know the Governor personally. He's a patient where I work. I will tell him, but I'll say I brought a friend, because I don't want anyone to know I was here for me."

Another woman walked out of the clinic and was going to her car. I followed and asked if she got her money back. No, her friend did not get her money back, and she was still having the abortion right away. I asked how that was possible if they didn't have a doctor, and she didn't know, but that's the way it was. Then back in the clinic she went with her friend's bathrobe, etc. That was all I needed, so I called the Atlanta police and let them know that Surgi was operating without an Ambulatory Surgical license, and that I was told by an employee there was no doctor, and by a patient that they were still going to do an abortion.

We waited outside for the cops, but finally we had to leave, so I'm not sure what happened after that. One woman who left had papers to go to the Piedmont Surgi because she was too far along and needed a late term abortion. I called two weeks ago under the guise of getting information about scheduling a late term abortion at that clinic, and was told that they did all the prep work in the Piedmont clinic, and then the surgery was done downstairs in Summit. DHR released a report two weeks ago that stated quite clearly that no prep work was done in the Piedmont Surgi. So much for DHR's investigative abilities. Sigh. The woman getting the late term abortion was crying and clearly upset. Her husband/boyfriend was bullying us, and probably her, too. There's no reason for this when you have six counselors on the sidewalk offering financial help, diapers, formula, pregnancy support, adoption. This is ridiculous! A couple walked out of the clinic and I followed them quietly asking questions, trying to get them to talk to me. The boyfriend was furious but finally the mother started talking. I said,"look, if you can't keep the baby, I understand. How about you let us help you through the pregnancy and I'll adopt the baby. I have six children, you can come meet the family, we will take care of everything." She thought about that and answered," no, there's no way I could ever give up my baby. If I'm not going to keep it, no one is going to have it." I parted with," If you can't bear the thought of giving your baby away, how in the world can you bear the thought of paying someone to kill your baby?"