“We TRUST Women” – This large black sign is one of the first things you see when you pull into the parking lot at Family Reproductive Health, one of two abortion clinics in Charlotte. It helps give patients privacy from the screaming protestors as they walk from their car to the building .
Flip Benham, a Concord protester, shown in the photo to the left, frequently climbs a ladder to attempt to view and harass patients headed into the clinic. The boulders and rocks were recently placed there so that he can’t place his ladder any closer to the fence. He continues to use amplified sound.
The photo to the right is the RRC’s (Reproductive Rights Coalition) sound meter. Flip was told by CMPD to stay at 75. He reached up to 100 when I was there.
Escort and RRC Founder Brooke Adams checking the sound meter.
Brooke approaches Flip to show him the text (regarding his sound violation) she sent to the police officer in charge.
Escorts (photo right) outside the clinic on Hebron Street. I heard countless honks in the one hour I was there.
The green ‘awning’ (left) 
above the sign was put there so that Flip and the other antis, while on their ladder, could not see patients as they walked into the clinic. The awning lines the whole walkway.
There are speakers also lining the fence (photo left). Loud music is played throughout the day to drown out the loudspeakers of the anti
(Right) The clinic side of the fence. Sometimes the escorts will climb the fence and face Flip and read children’s sex education books to him while he’s yelling.
Longtime activist Betty Gunz engages Flip.
The escorts (photo right) stand at the driveway (along with protestors–antis–) to wave cars through to the parking lot. The objective is to keep the cars moving so that the antis don’t come to their windows.
Then once they park, another escort greets them and escorts them into the clinic.
The Antis (photo below) line the street, both sides. During the summer, families bring their children to protest. 
The escorts respond by reading them children’s sex education books and offering free condoms.
Flip (below left) yelling at the doctor who just pulled up. The antis cannot cross over into the Clinic’s property.
There is a purple line that Flip can’t cross, so he just stands right on the line and yells.
RRC’s supplies—
they call it their Toy Box.
This photo essay was created by Laura Meier.
Currently there are three women’s health clinics in Charlotte that offer abortion service. This photo essay was taken at Family Reproductive Health located at 700 E Hebron Street. If you would like to volunteer to be an escort contact Reproductive Rights Coalition contact Carol here .
A Preferred Women’s Health Center of Charlotte is located at 3220 Latrobe Drive. If you would like to help women get safe access to health care including abortion at APWHCC, contact Charlotte for Choice Clinic Escorts, part of Charlotte for Choice. There is an escort training class coming up on July 7th. Registration can be found here.
The third Charlotte abortion clinic is A Woman’s Choice, located on Wendover Road. Planned Parenthood plans to begin offering abortions when their new clinic opens in July.
And if you agree that Charlotte needs to update our noise ordinance to increase the buffer around all health care facilities – hospitals, doctors office and women’s clinics a call to action is listed in this article.
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Life begins at conception so please put this scientific fact in your article. As abortion ends in the termination if a life which has no say in the matter it is therefore murder. Please put that philosophical fact in your article. Abortion us also a very dangerous procedure.