Twice a week, no matter the weather, a handful of Wesleyan students travel to Bridgeport, Conn. to support women who choose to have an abortion. The group, called the Wesleyan Clinic Escorts consists of fifty to sixty escorts a semester; the escorts are trained to comfort and escort women seeking abortions at the Summit Women’s Health Center.
Every Tuesday and Saturday morning, the only two days the clinic performs abortions, one captain and four escorts leave for the clinic at 6:30 a.m.
Captains are in charge of making sure escorts are comfortable and that they understand the group’s rules and policies. Unlike escorts themselves, who usually only escort once every semester due to high interest in the program, captains may escort six or more times every year.
On these days, patients may face harassment by pro-life protesters. The aim of the clinic escorts is to help the women reach their destination safely.
“Our main goal is to provide women entering the clinic some comfort as they pass through a barrage of insults and harassment from the anti-s [pro-life protesters] on their way to the clinic entrance,” said Eric Rosoff ’04, who heads the Wesleyan Clinic Escorts with Becca Solow ’04. “We talk to them about benign topics as we accompany them to the entrance to take their minds off the anti-s’ jeering.”
“It was an eye-opening experience. I knew there would be people protesting there, but I still hadn’t been exposed to anyone that anti-choice before,” said escort Dana Wollman ’06. “Some of the people there were mild mannered. Stanley Scott, one of the most infamous protesters, invokes Bible language to make people uncomfortable.”
Rosoff and Solow do their best to help students prepare for the emotional experience they will face at the clinic. Every escort attends a mandatory hour-long training offered twice at the beginning of each semester.
According to Rosoff, part of being prepared to escort is becoming immune to the often disparaging language used by the protestors.
“The escorts do a great job of comforting the women as they accompany them through the constant barrage of insults and harassment,” Rosoff said. “Anyone who has gone escorting can tell you that it is not easy and that escorts themselves face harassment of their own.”
While escorting can be emotionally trying, it is also a very rewarding experience. By escorting women to the center, the students can demonstrate their support of a woman’s right to a legal and safe abortion.
“We’re there to support the women,” Wollman said. “I don’t really think we’re there to be protectors…There are police officers in front of the center. We have a symbolic presence- our being there lets the women know that there are people who think they have a right to be there.”
Up to this point, the group has only escorted at the Summit Women’s Health Center. According to Rosoff, the escorts hope to broaden their horizons to other clinics.
“We’re hoping to extend our volunteer work to another clinic in Hartford,” Rosoff said. “They do not experience as much anti-choice protesting, but they have expressed interest in our volunteering inside the clinic to do clerical work and keep the patients company.”
All in all, the Wesleyan Clinic Escorts seems to be achieving its mission to help make the abortion process easier for the women involved.
“Our goal is to show these women moral support,” Wollman said. “I think it helps to have an escort.”
Rosoff said that while escorting can be trying, the tactics of protesters only makes his commitment to the program stronger.
“It takes a strong and committed person to put up with it,” Rosoff said. “For me, any antagonism I face from the anti-s only strengthens my resolve to be there every morning to protect access to the clinic.”
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