Thread by @ashtonpittman

The owner of a restaurant across from Mississippi's last abortion clinic says activists shout at his patrons while they eat on the patio, show them bloody images of fetuses, and tell them he is "cooking babies in the kitchen & frying little kids." #jxn ⅟7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

Business owners in Jackson's Fondren community, where the abortion clinic is located, spoke out at City Council in favor of an ordinance that would create a 15' buffer zone around the clinic and limit the use of amplifiers and speakers. 2/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

"Children nap on sidewalks outside the abortion clinic while their anti-abortion activist parents march up & down the streets for hours, using bullhorns to plead with or denounce as 'jezebels' women who are trying to make their way to the doors." 3/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

"We have had protesters follow patients up the street. We had a patient choke a protester to the ground because he was following her up the street," said JWHO Director Shannon Brewer, who wants a protest buffer zone around the abortion clinic. 4/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

Records show Jackson Police have been called to Mississippi's only abortion clinic nearly 400 times in the past 10 years, but that doesn't include calls or texts to officer's personal cell phones, JPD Precinct Four Commander Keith Freeman said. 5/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

Anti-abortion activists say it'll limit free speech: "How will we know who is going in there if we have to be so far away? We need close proximity, we need closer than 15 ft. If we're not there, we can't pull them or dissuade them."
—Barbara Beavers. 6/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…

"It does not ban speech. It does not make it a little more difficult to give unwanted advice to persons who are entering medical facilities who are oftentimes under physical and emotional stress," said Jackson City Attorney Tim Howard. 7/7
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/…