The Benham Blitz

In the 1970s, high school students in the southern United States who were pregnant didn't exist. A person who got pregnant before graduation could not go to class showing.

So, when I found myself in that situation, a few months from graduation and with a college scholarship; my choices were to either drop out and stay pregnant or to get an abortion.

Luckily for me, my mother was willing to spend the time, effort, and money involved in driving me out of state (In the first year of Roe only a few states in the nation that had clinics then) for the 2-day process.

I knew that I did not want to be or stay pregnant (for me, adoption wasn't an option, as I couldn't have handled it, emotionally). My birth control had failed me, I was a Straight A student, and I wanted a degree in foreign language to work as an international flight attendant and travel the world.

I knew what my life would be in small town as a young, unwed woman with a baby. I still keep up with what goes on in that area, and seeing what could have been for me only reinforces my choice.

College and living abroad afforded me the ability (upon returning to the US) to land a good job and have my first child. A bad marriage choice led me to be abused and seek a divorce. While trying to extract myself from this nightmare, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant again. Not wanting to be tied for life to an abuser, I once again chose to end the pregnancy.

Both of my abortions were uneventful. I got an appointment, I went to the facility, and then I left. There were no looky-loos, no screaming protestors, no gruesome signs, and most importantly, no trauma and NO REGRETS!!!

So, when I drove through Charlotte one day and saw signs, groups of people, and a man on a ladder screaming over an 8ft privacy fence, I was apalled. Then, I kept seeing it so one day, I pulled into the parking lot and asked, "What can I do to help get rid of that asshole on the ladder?"

Since starting with RRC about 4.5 years ago, my main mission has been to block Flip Benham (the self appointed protest leader) and the other anti-abortion protestors from getting access to clinic patients to spew there misinformation and guilt religion at the patients. I want to provide these people with the same kind of peaceful experience I had. Boring and relieving. If these patients have any trauma, I think it will be entirely from those heaping condemnation and chaos on the people exercising their medical rights choice.

I want to give back to these protestors the harassment they heap onto strangers seeking medical care. I spend most of my volunteer time focused on the protesters, taking the focus away from incoming patients and giving them the attention they so desperately crave.

My best days are those in which I am able to keep the hate away from the patients and companions I'm trying to help. I can't count the number of times I hear "I'm so glad you are here," and knowing that I'm making their experience a little better. It gives me the impetus to keep playing the Benham Blitz.