Lady Parts Justice League had the pleasure of spending a week in Montgomery, Alabama last summer. We loaded up our Mobile Justice Unit, hit the road, and joined some good ole’ southern abortion rights activists in defending Reproductive Health Services, their local clinic, from an onslaught of anti-choice extremists.
The righteously badass activists we met on that trip successfully secured a house right next door to Reproductive Health Services clinic and have been using it to house their supplies and hold meetings. Affectionately named the POWER House, their headquarters even serves as a safe space for clinic patients, along with their children and companions, to relax in while waiting for their appointments at the clinic next door. The POWER House activists hold comprehensive sex education lessons in this space and also provide support programs for the local LGBT people in the community. These services that Montgomery’s local activists are offering are more vital than ever in Alabama, a state that is not only hostile to abortion and gay and trans* rights, but also insists on teaching abstinence-only sex education to teens.
This week brought some bad news for our friends at the POWER House. A local Crisis Pregnancy Center organization (you know, those religious groups who pose as clinics and lie to people seeking abortion services) are trying to buy the POWER House for more than it is worth. If they get their hands on the property, they will have full access to the clinic next door and free range to harass patients and providers.
Our friends at the POWER House are not going down without a fight, and neither are we! They have set up a crowdsourcing page THAT YOU CAN DONATE TO HERE. We have been donating our own money and are asking our followers to help out in any way they can. Contributing to this fund is a direct and easy way to help protect abortion access in Alabama, a state that is under attack from its own anti-choice, homophobic, transphobic, sexually repressed legislators. Please consider donating to this important cause that is near and dear to our hearts. Check out the POWER House facebook page and learn more about these incredible activists and how you can support them!
