In a letter, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) has asked Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer to take action, preventing anti-abortion groups from using the guise of “worship services” to continue harassing patients and clinic staff despite the Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Order.
The Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, President and CEO of NAF:
As an Episcopal Priest, I appreciate your efforts to accommodate those who wish to gather in worship during these difficult times. However, the persistence of anti-abortion protesters in gathering en masse outside of clinics is a public health issue that simply must be addressed, and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the religious exemption to Michigan’s stay at home order has become these extremists’ carte blanche for harassing health care workers and their patients, and increasing their odds of COVID-19 exposure in the process.
Read The Very Reverend Ragsdale’s full letter to Governor Whitmer here.
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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.