Abortion-rights advocates stage 'Occupy Polk' event in Lakeland, prepare for petition drive

LAKELAND — At first glance, the site could have been someone’s back yard provisioned for a group campout. Several tents in varying sizes and hues stood in place, ready to be occupied, with a matching pair of purple camp chairs positioned nearby.

A table held an assortment of snacks, adding to the festive appearance.

The tableau, though, did not have a residential setting. The group campsite occupied a grassy space just behind the Lakeland Women’s Health Center, set along a bustling stretch of South Florida Avenue. An inscription on a small blackboard propped along Horizon Court attested to the purpose of the gathering: OccupyPolk May 9-12.

A group of abortion-rights advocates staged the three-day action this week to protest the six-week abortion ban recently passed by the Florida Legislature and to prepare for the launch of a petition drive aimed at asking Florida voters to approve a constitutional amendment ensuring abortion rights.

By staging the event at the only clinic in Polk County that performs non-emergency abortions, the organizers also planned to exert a vocal counter-presence to the anti-abortion demonstrators who protest there twice a week.

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Bonnie Patterson-James, a main organizer of abortion-rights events in Lakeland in recent years, gripped a microphone Tuesday afternoon and addressed about 20 fellow activists in the clinic’s front parking lot. Patterson-James had spent much of the legislative session in Tallahassee, where she joined the Occupy Tally campaign, a protest against the six-week abortion measure co-sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland.

“And now we're here in Polk County, saying, ‘Enough is enough,’” Patterson-James said. “We will not take this Christo-fascism, authoritarian legislation that they’ve passed.”

Speaking of the abortion bill, she said, “It was a disgusting overreach of government. There was zero compassion, empathy or respect given to any of our Jewish representatives, to our trans(gender) speakers, to our obstetricians that are saying they're leaving the state.”

The event occurred when the clinic was not busy and no anti-abortion protesters were present. Those assembled, including some children, held homemade posters bearing such messages as “Everyone loves someone who had an abortion,” “Equal rights and justice” and “The Bible can be your guide but not my shackles.”

Some wore neon green or orange vests labeled “Pro-choice clinic escort.”

Launching petition drive

Patterson-James' group, Lakeland Inclusive and Diverse Voice, organized the three-day action in coordination with the Pro-choice Action League and Swan City Clinic Defenders, Polk Progressive Democracy Caucus and others.

The Florida Legislature last year enacted a measure barring abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Months later, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to nullify the Roe v. Wade ruling, which had established a nationwide right to abortion in 1973.

The 15-week ruling is facing a legal challenge, and the new and more restrictive law, already signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is contingent upon the Florida Supreme Court upholding the previous measure. The state’s highest court has previously held that a guarantee of privacy in the Florida Constitution covered decisions on abortion, but the more conservative makeup of the current court leaves that precedent in question.

That is why abortion-rights advocates have turned their attention to a constitutional amendment. A coalition of groups, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising and Women's Voices of Southwest Florida is promoting the effort.

Organizers would need to collect nearly 900,000 signatures from voters and get approval of the amendment’s language from the Florida Supreme Court before the proposal could appear on ballots for the November 2024 election. If that happens, the measure would require 60% approval from voters.

Patterson-James said she and others planned to launch a local signature-collection campaign as early as this weekend.

Donna Windsor, the founder of the Pro-choice Action League, devised the idea a few years ago of using volunteer escorts to shield patients as they enter and leave the clinic. Windsor, a mother of two teenagers, mentioned having an abortion decades ago.

“That’s a very personal decision that no one makes lightly,” Windsor told the assembly. “It’s not something like you're just coming in to get an appointment for your hair or your nails. This is a serious decision that every woman thinks about when she has to make it. So there is not a need for some stranger to preach to you to help you make that decision.”

'Not just in Tally'

While the focus was on abortion, the speakers also brought up issues of LGBTQ rights and the treatment of homeless people in Lakeland. Jaden “Spike” Poma, a transgender man, talked of being in the Florida House chamber when Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, referred to transgender people as “mutants” and “demons” during debate over a bill, which later passed, requiring all to use public bathrooms designated for their assigned sex at birth.

Barnaby later apologized for using the word “demons.”

“They're saying the quiet parts out loud now,” Poma said. “And it's not just in Tally. It's at every local level here in Florida, in every single district, in every city. Lakeland is no exception to this.”

Gay and transgender flags were posted along fences at the clinic, along with others asserting abortion rights. Even as the Legislature and courts have given anti-abortion activists a series of victories, tensions between protesters and clinic escorts have not lessened.

The clinic erected a solid, plastic fence along a grassy area between the sidewalk and its front parking lot, prompting anti-abortion advocates to bring ladders so that they would see over the fence and address patients. That has led to an ongoing escalation of tactics.

The clinic’s property extends almost to the sidewalk, Windsor said, and clinic supporters strung two sets of caution tape before the fence, seeking to keep protesters back. Windsor said an anti-abortion activist recently removed the tape early in the morning.

Poma said that another protester assaulted a clinic escort, snatching and breaking a body-worn camera. Clinic supporters said they reported the incident to the Lakeland Police Department, sharing video and witness statements, but the agency took no action.

LPD spokeswoman Robin Tillett said that officers responded May 3 to a report of alleged battery, theft of signs and trespass at the clinic. She said officers thoroughly investigated all of the allegations.

Based on statements and camera footage, officers determined that the alleged suspect reached around a clinic escort to grab a sign from a clinic employee who was removing it from the area in front of the clinic, Tillett said by email. The suspect did not appear to have any intention of touching the escort, and the officer did not find sufficient evidence to make an arrest for assault or battery, she wrote.

Tillett said the identity of people seen on video removing business signs and stakes could not be confirmed.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Abortion-rights advocates prepare to launch petition drive in Polk