Let’s think about the buffer zone bill, which allows for a reproductive health care facility to delineate a protester-free space of UP TO 25 feet around clinic entrances.  It has been law for eight years, but never enacted in NH. Things have changed out on the sidewalk, and tensions are high all around the country. The time has come that an enforced buffer zone is needed at the clinics which choose to use it.  I applaud Governor Sununu’s veto of the repeal of the buffer zone law. It is imperative that state representatives vote to sustain the veto.

For the past dozen years, I have volunteered as an escort at an abortion clinic in NH. When I arrive in the morning, I walk the perimeter of the building, alert for anything or anyone out of the ordinary. I am vigilant for vehicles that make suspicious, repeated drive-bys. I stand on the clinic steps and await the arrival of scheduled patients.  I greet and escort them up the stairway and help them navigate the secure entrance.  The clinic is at the sidewalk on Main Street in the capital city, with no patient parking lot.  Escorts, patients, the general public, and protesters are in the same limited space.

I understand different points of view about abortion; that is the very basis of choice.  I hold high value for our First Amendment: I have marched, protested, and demonstrated for 56 years.  I respect everyone’s right to their religious beliefs or lack thereof. None of that is my concern.  Human rights are my concern, as are privacy and dignity.  Unimpeded access to health care concerns me, as does the safety of the patients, staff, and the larger community. Potential violence has resulted in multiple calls to and response from city police outside the clinic.

I, and the team of escorts, have been the literal buffer zone for years. We stand between the patients and the protesters to provide safe passage and privacy from the protesters’ body cameras, which audio/video record everyone on the sidewalk. We minimize the intimidation of patients by those who would deny them free choice. We interrupted aggression. We notice an escalation of interactions between members of the public and the protesters; NH is among the least religious states in the country and the average person on Main Street doesn’t respond well to being called a sinner in need of repentance.  We use our bodies and umbrellas to block the vivid images on their large signs which alarm families with youngsters who pass by.  When the sidewalk is crowded with loud and angry people, pedestrians often choose to walk behind parked cars into the street rather than be face-to-face with protesters.

The anti-choice protesters arrive in groups of between 4 and 24. They are within an arm’s reach. Their protest signs display graphic images, religious admonitions, false medical slogans. They shout judgment and condemnation. They tell us we have blood on our hands and are doomed to everlasting hellfire.  Escorts willingly absorb that to keep the patients safe.  Anti-choice advocates bully and judge the patients – total strangers who are entering for the most private of legal reproductive health care. They add stress and danger to an already fraught situation.  I’ve put my arm around women who are shaking in fear and grief to shelter them from these intrusive strangers.  Protesters have pressed in to shout at women, some of whom come in for miscarriage management of a much-wanted pregnancy. “Don’t kill your baby! You will leave as the mother of a dead child!” The cruelty towards patients and their partners pains me. These are not protests in opposition to abortion in general; they are personal and hurtful violations of privacy and decency.  What other doctor’s office has people gathered to harass arriving patients?

These days the clinic is subjected to anti-choice protesters who come from out-of-state. This practice is likely to increase as some states close their facilities.  With more protesters who are unknown to us, the risk and opportunity for danger increases.

Don’t be fooled. The buffer zone is not about abortion or religion or free speech: it is about the protection of everyone’s rights and community safety.   Protests and access to the health center can occur simultaneously. I will be a human buffer to ensure women are not attacked. I am taking a personal risk to do so.  I can put an arm around a frightened woman, but I cannot keep an entire building nor neighborhood safe. Sensible regulation of distance separating protesters and clinic entrances is needed.  It is not unusual for “free speech zones” to be established; we encounter and accept them in many places such as at the polls on election day and government buildings.  Respect and trust women by honoring a zone for them to enter the doctor’s office while protecting public safety.