Statement of The Very Reverend Katherine Ragsdale, Interim President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) on Jackson, Mississippi health center buffer zone:
“We applaud the Jackson City Council for approving a 15-foot buffer zone near the front entrance of health care facilities. We are proud to call Jackson Women’s Health a NAF member and look forward to the positive impact this ordinance will have on their patients’ experiences.
Abortion providers are targeted every day for anti-abortion violence and disruption. This ordinance will help to reduce the harassment and obstruction patients experience when trying to obtain the health care they need.”
Notable anti-abortion violence and disruption statistics from 2018:
- NAF members identified more than 1,135 incidents of trespassing—the most since NAF’s tabulation of trespassing first began in 1999.
- Incidents of obstruction of health care facilities nearly doubled from 1,704 in 2017 to 3,038 in 2018, the highest number since NAF began tracking obstruction in its own category in 2012.
- The volume of picketing incidents continued to increase in 2018, with 99,409 incidents reported—which far exceeds any other year since we began tracking these statistics in 1977.
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The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers. Our members include individuals, private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women’s health centers, physicians’ offices, and hospitals who together care for approximately half the women who choose abortion in the U.S. and Canada each year. Our members also include public hospitals and both public and private clinics in Mexico City and private clinics in Colombia. NAF unites, represents, serves, and supports abortion providers in delivering patient-centered, evidence-based care.