From My Inbox: Pledge-a-Picket for New Clinic in Montana

Dr. Susan Wicklund, whose 2008 book This Common Secret, detailed her life as an abortion provider, has just opened a clinic in Livingston, Montana. Even before it opened on February 2nd, the clinic was being picketed by opponents of abortion rights. In the mail below, Wicklund's co-author, Montana writer Alan Kesselheim, explains how you can turn their protests peacefully against them. (I've pledged $1 per picketer. That puts me in a slightly weird position: Do I hope lots show up so the clinic gets plenty of cash, or few show up so that I can save mine?) If you want to pledge, e mail Martha_Kauffman@msn.com.

Dear Friends of Dr. Susan Wicklund:

As most of you know, Susan Wicklund has been hard at work trying to open a women's reproductive health clinic in the Bozeman/Livingston area. It has not been easy. It has taken several years. Deals have fallen through because word leaked out and landowners were intimidated by violent threats. Other potential arrangements have collapsed due to financial difficulties, political controversy, or simple logistics.

Despite the setbacks, Sue has persevered. On Monday, February 2nd, precisely sixteen years after she opened her Bozeman clinic, back in 1993, Mountain Country Women's Clinic again opens its doors, this time in downtown Livingston. It is a moment of triumph and satisfaction, achieved with the support of many people. It is also a moment of tension. Not only has Susan incurred significant personal debt in a very uncertain economy, but the usual voices of dissent are echoing in letters to the editor and in anti-choice picketers appearing on Main Street in Livingston, protesting the existence of Sue's legal services. Even before the doors opened, protesters walked the sidewalks outside. Also, even before the doors opened, women were calling Sue to make appointments.

The need for a compassionate, professional, and thorough women's clinic is as great as ever. Unfortunately, the strident voices against choice rise up as expected. The difference between 1993 and 2009 is that Sue Wicklund has friends. All of you on this mailing list, and many more friends and neighbors, support her cause. Many have volunteered in the past. Some have written letters of support. Others wish they knew how to help.

I propose to begin a Pledge-A-Picketer Campaign in support of Mountain Country Women's Clinic. The concept is simple, and it mirrors the grassroots style of the Obama campaign, during which many small contributions created a huge impact. Each of us signs on to donate, say, $1/picketer to Susan's clinic. If, over the period of a week, 17 picketers parade on Main Street, we each send a check for $17. It isn't much, but if $17 gets multiplied by 50 people, it comes to $850. If 100 people send in checks, we raise $1,700.

At the end of the week, Susan posts a sign on the clinic window. It might say, THANK YOU PICKETERS. THIS WEEK THE SUPPORTERS OF MOUNTAIN COUNTRY WOMEN'S CLINIC RAISED $850 IN THEIR PLEDGE-A-PICKETER CAMPAIGN. THESE FUNDS WILL HELP INDIGENT PATIENTS IN NEED OF OUR SERVICES. THE MORE YOU PICKET, THE MORE SUPPORT MCWC RECEIVES.

Many of us wish to help Mountain Country Women's Clinic. We wish we could confront the picketers face to face. Unfortunately, that sort of public disturbance is precisely what the anti-choice forces would love to foster. However, by turning their efforts against them we can help Mountain Country Women's Clinic serve patients, and deflate the energy of the protesters.

Susan Wicklund has agreed to keep track of picketers during her first week of operation. At that point we will contact all of you again with the numbers, and an address to send the check to. Even if you can only pledge .25/picketer, the cumulative impact of our efforts will still be significant. Also, I urge you to forward this message to any of your friends who might help support Sue's new clinic. If they would like to participate, they should contact Martha_Kauffman@msn.com and ask to be added to the list.

With Sincere Thanks, and In Solidarity,

Alan Kesselheim Co-Author of This Common Secret

Comments (22)

1. I thought Montana was celebrated here as an example of a blue state in the conservative west.

   And now we find people actualy exercising their right to protest and picket...an abortion clinic?

   How dare they.

   Maybe the clinic can get some of those abortion funds bound for foreign countries(I don't know why we subsidise other nations abortion clinics or any other outside clinics for that matter)..

   I am not sure what the issue is here.

   Is the fact that people are protesting the presence of the clinic the problem herte...

   ..

   or the fact that there are no people protesting the protesters?

   Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 6:59pm

2. Personally, I find the harassment of healthcare providers and patients objectionable.

   You assume abortions are all that take place there, or likely treat any woman entering there that way. What about Pap smears, gynecological exams, information and supplies to the reduce the need for abortions?

   Or all all women seeking healthcare sinners to be stoned, in your judgement?

   Posted by weblizard at 02/04/2009 @ 8:01pm

3. Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 6:59pm

   Well, remember, MAASCH, under the "Post-9/11 World" paradigm that Bush and supporters established...

   just like how we can "keep an eye" on Muslim charities because of Al Qaeda, we can "keep an eye" on abortion protestors because of Eric Rudolph.

   They won't mind...will they?

   Posted by Mask at 02/04/2009 @ 8:11pm

4. Mask,

   I want to keep an eye on the AQ types. All for it.

   I don't much care about the abortion protesters issue. The pro abortion people have been screaming the sky is falling since 1973. The only thing I understand that screams is the fetus and the baby in the partial birth procedure.

   I,myself,am stuck on the fence regarding abortion.

   Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 10:19pm

5. I,myself,am stuck on the fence regarding abortion.----Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 10:19pm

   Really? Where's the fence set, MAASCH? Seems you're fine with protestors harassing women who want to go into clinics....which is pretty much the standard "pro-lifer" position.

   Posted by Mask at 02/04/2009 @ 10:59pm

6. "The only thing I understand that screams is the fetus and the baby in the partial birth procedure"

   1/10 of 1% of abortions are so-called 'partial-birth' (the reason i say 'so-called' is because there is no such thing as a 'partial birth abortion'. it is a far right wing christian term, not a medical term).

   Posted by darladoon at 02/04/2009 @ 11:13pm

7. Really? Where's the fence set, MAASCH? Seems you're fine with protestors harassing women who want to go into clinics....which is pretty much the standard "pro-lifer" position.

   Posted by Mask at 02/04/2009 @ 10:59pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   Never been to an abortion protest..are they anything like a political protest say..in Denver where every umemployable nut case who wears upside down kerchiefs over their faces and holds the "streets" in the hope of getting arrested as they riot for the "people"..only to be defended by the loons on the more nuts than the rioters who sole purpose was to get arrested? And now beg to be released free? I saw the collection of the traveling circus side show occupants at the Dem convention trying to take back the "streets"...

   Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 11:23pm

8. Pledge a dollar to kill more babies for Obamanations embryonic stem cell research efforts! See, you could copyright that catchy slogan to go with it!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 02/04/2009 @ 11:35pm

9. there is no such thing as a 'partial birth abortion'. it is a far right wing christian term, not a medical term).

   Posted by darladoon at 02/04/2009 @ 11:13pm

   Just what is the medical term for ramming forceps into the skull of an "almost" born baby and sucking its brains out with a vacuum? you claim to know it!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 02/05/2009 @ 12:15am

10. First of all, I just want to salute Katha for the sheer brilliance of this plan. Can I criticize the protesters for at least protesting abortion? Well, not really. If you believe that an institution is murdering innocent children, then you can hardly be blamed for protesting at it even if you know it also does other things. This means that the objection is really to the pro-life position, not the activity; the protestors are acting exactly as they should if they believe what they claim to (which I'm pretty sure they do).

    Second, somewhat echoing comanche...yes, I get it, "partial-birth abortion" is not a medical term. However, the leap from "not a medical term" to "meaningless term used only as a political wedge" is completely unwarranted. The fact that it's not a medical term does not mean that it can't still serve as an accurate descriptor; in this case, it seems to pretty closely fit what actually happens. It's also, by the way, ridiculously hard to defend partial-birth abortion and repudiate infanticide. In fact, I'd argue that it's impossible.

    Posted by Thrawn at 02/05/2009 @ 12:38am

11. Posted by YourJomamma at 02/04/2009 @ 11:23pm

    Oh, okay, I see, I guess comparing abortion protesters to "nut cases" and "loons" WOULD be a more moderate position.

    Not sure RIO's going to appreciate it...but I do.

    Posted by Mask at 02/05/2009 @ 09:24am

12. Whatever you want to call it, I read one article of a family whose infant developed without a brain (anencephaly), destined to die shortly after birth if not during, and living with only brain stem function. The mother and her family faced a risky ordeal.

    What would you do? If it were you, would you want to decide the outcome with your family and your doctor and your own conscience? I would.

    Posted by fnwtevr at 02/05/2009 @ 11:27am

13. Oh, okay, I see, I guess comparing abortion protesters to "nut cases" and "loons" WOULD be a more moderate position.

    Not sure RIO's going to appreciate it...but I do.

    Posted by Mask at 02/05/2009 @ 09:24am

    That is what you understand from my post? Really?

    Thats the take you walked away with after thnking and reading it?

    Again..why does the abortion clinic need to sound the alert, if it is a "bad" thing to have protesters outside protesting abortions? Is that the problem? The protesters? And if that is bad...

    then....

    why was it not bad for the loons in Denver practising how to defeat the police as they "take" back the streets for the "people" and for justice, of course...and the left was not worried about those protesters..or have fund raisers for every protester coming out to protest those protesters?

    Posted by YourJomamma at 02/05/2009 @ 11:29am

14. The correct medical term for "partial birth abortion" is intact dilation and extraction.

    It was intended for use when patients had very longed-for pregnancies which,unfortunately, resulted in fetuses with severe deformaties or genetic disorders incompatible with life. The procedure left the parents with an intact near-term fetus that they could hold and mourn, as in a stillbirth.

    The procedure has actually been in use for hundreds of years in a more primitive form, when women had breech deliveries in which the head was trapped, and it was a choice between letting both mother and child die, or trying to save the live of the mother. Often, these were hydrocephalic children.

    These days,with pre-delivery ultrasounds and cesarean deliveries, this is rarely necessary, though not entirely unheard of in emergency situations.

    Posted by im4choice at 02/05/2009 @ 1:14pm

15. Posted by YourJomamma at 02/05/2009 @ 11:29am

    We were talking about abortion protesters....you started an analogy to "nut cases" and "loons".

    Seems YOU made the inference, MAASCH???

    Posted by Mask at 02/05/2009 @ 1:29pm

16. MAsk,

    One more time before I leave for Hilton Head for a golf trip...

    Is the jist of the article the problem exisists in Montana is..

    1. Protesters are protesting against abortion...

    or

    2. the problem is there are no protesters to protest the anti abortion protesters in Montana, and money needs to be raised to pay the anti protesters?

    Lets start there..

    after Mask can parse this, then I will ask part 2.

    BTW, if you have to pay protesters to come, can it really be a protest from core beliefs of those who actully carry the signs saying, "Hong if you pay Us?"?

    Posted by YourJomamma at 02/05/2009 @ 1:37pm

17. Sorry. I am not in favor of harassing abortion clinics or patients/doctors, but neither am I in favor of encouraging abortions. I am truly sick of those who think all who are pro-life are nut jobs and radicals who have no regard for women. Some of us are stuck in the middle. Our fellow pro-lifers cannot understand why we vote progressive and our fellow progressives cannot understand why we our pro-life for everyone, conception to death. So, I'll pass on this and, how about looking for possible meeting points. One thing is true of the extremists on both sides, hate seems to be their prime motivation!

    Posted by lookatitright at 02/05/2009 @ 2:45pm

18. Posted by YourJomamma at 02/05/2009 @ 1:37pm

    MAASCH, re-read your post.

    In order to put down protests and say "Why does the Left not stop these guys", you bring up "nut cases" and "loons".

    Fine. But the topic is people protesting in front of abortion clinics.

    Ergo, by your inference, ALL protesters are "nut cases" and "loons" and the Left should be concerned with ALL of them, not just the abortion clinic protesters....

    BUT...that ALSO means you consider the abortion clinic protesters "nut cases" and "loons"....doesn't it???

    Posted by Mask at 02/05/2009 @ 3:06pm

19. BUT...that ALSO means you consider the abortion clinic protesters "nut cases" and "loons"....doesn't it???

    Posted by Mask at 02/05/2009 @ 3:06pm

    No...wandered off the point ...forget it.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 02/05/2009 @ 3:29pm

20. Posted by im4choice at 02/05/2009 @ 1:14pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Excellent intelligent explanation! Thank you! The only question anyone would have of the medical profession is how does anyone assure the public that the practice will not be, has not been, nor will ever be abused for the sake of convenience for socialogical, cultural, or economic reasons?

    When abortionists in collusion with our own government puposely strips citizens of their lawful, moral, and even spiritual parental rights in favor of facilitating abortion how can a reasonalble prudent citizen not think a cultural social form of abortionist facism exists?

    If it is so important to have the right to an abortion why do taxpayers who in the majority do not approve of it have to pay 100s of millions to unwillingly to provide it? When you get in someones face they tend to want to change yours!

    Posted by comancheamerican at 02/06/2009 @ 12:31am

21. Abortion is about killing innocent babies...no more, no less. For all of you pro-abortion readers out there, read this IF you have the courage.

    http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/570428.html

    Posted by fram at 02/06/2009 @ 05:08am

22. There is NO doubt that abortionist are all about killing babies anyway they can!!!

    A doctor's license was revoked Friday in the case of a teenager who planned to have an abortion but instead gave birth to a baby she says was killed when clinic staffers put it into a plastic bag and threw it in the trash.

    The doctor, Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique, also is the subject of a criminal investigation. Renelique was not present when the baby was born, but the Florida Medical Board upheld Department of Health allegations that he falsified medical records, inappropriately delegated tasks to unlicensed personnel and committed malpractice.

    Posted by comancheamerican at 02/07/2009 @ 07:34am