This morning, as patients were entering our Jacksonville clinic, 165 anti-abortion protesters held a demonstration that stopped traffic, blocking patients and staff from accessing the clinic. This is a direct violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (“FACE Act”).

We are deeply disappointed that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (“JSO”) allowed the assembly and a parade to extend beyond common property into private parking lots without dispersing this protest and allowing the chaos outside our facility to continue as patients sought legally protected healthcare. The anti-abortion harassment and bullying that happens outside of our clinic is racist, sexist, and hateful and when it impedes patients’ access to care, it is illegal.

We have notified the FBI and asked they investigate JSO’s continuing lack of enforcement of the FACE Act, their collusion with anti-abortion protesters, and our complaints about the harassment, intimidation, threats, and acts of violence against our staff, volunteers, and patients that have gone unaddressed by the JSO for years. 

No patient should be blocked from getting health care, nor should they be intimidated when seeking care at a clinic. No person should have to experience this intrusion and harassment at their workplace. The tactics used by these law-breaking protesters outside our clinic are intended to frighten and prevent patients from obtaining the reproductive care that is right for them—and to terrorize those that provide this essential care. This atrocious behavior would not be tolerated outside any other medical facility, it should not be tolerated here. 

This incident will not deter us from continuing to provide safe, quality, compassionate abortion care to our community.  

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Abortion is essential, time-sensitive care. Our clinics are open and ready to serve our community.

Media Contact: Amber Gavin, [email protected]