Arson Didn't Stop a Planned Parenthood in Ohio
A story of courage and resilience for your Friday
Last Thursday night, someone broke into a Planned Parenthood clinic and started a fire.
The clinic in Mount Auburn, Ohio, is an important resource in the area for women’s healthcare. And like many Planned Parenthood locations across the country, it’s also a magnet for anti-choice protestors. (Just as a reminder, abortion care is only a fraction of the services that Planned Parenthood provides; they also offer cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, contraception, and more.)
So far, nothing about this story is unexpected. Planned Parenthood has become a figurehead and scapegoat for anti-abortion politicians and activists across the country, and occasionally those extremists escalate into outright violence.
But here’s the inspiring part. Despite some serious fire damage, the Mount Auburn clinic opened the following morning and saw every patient who came through their doors.
Nan Whaley, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio, said that it’s '“clear this fire was set intentionally, but if the goal was to scare Planned Parenthood into closing their doors, they failed.”
She wasn’t the only one who refused to back down. “If I’m honest, my first response when I heard of the attack was, ‘Oh, hell no,’” said Gwen Perry, the assistant medical director for Planned Parenthood SW Ohio. “It’s unacceptable. Every single person was looking past their fears and their concerns and their questions to show up and be present for the people who counted on us. Because that’s what we do.”
In many communities, Planned Parenthood is the only place women can access reproductive healthcare. In fact, some clinics are the only abortion care for hundreds of miles, helping women from nearby states that have criminalized care.
It takes courage keep showing up to provide that critical service when you have to walk through a crowd of angry protestors just to get to work each day. How much braver is it to walk into a partially-burned clinic that was just attacked the night before?
The doctors, nurses, and other staff in Mount Auburn are everyday heroes who are making a real difference — not just for the women of Ohio, but for people across the country who are looking for a reason to hope.