My colorful work day (on abortion clinics and gay bath houses)
I work at an abortion clinic.
The Women’s Health Center is more than an abortion clinic, but if you ask the protestors who congregate in front of the building every morning, that’s all it is. We also offer free STI testing to MN residents, pregnancy tests, birth control, health screening (PAPs, breast exams etc.). It just so happens that we are also the only facility on northern MN, WI, and MI that offers abortions. Other than the WHC, the closest abortion clinic to here would be in the twin cities. Someone should probably tell that to the people from the Christian radio station who protest over at Planned Parenthood.
Every morning when I arrive, I have to walk by the people protesting on the sidewalk out front. Some days there is only one person who arrives in his grey minivan. Although if you were to have to describe the minivan to the cops, you probably wouldn’t call it “the grey minivan,” you would probably say “the minivan with the giant fetuses painted all over it.” Not your typical grey minivan.
Other days (the days when the heavier-than-typical foot traffic into the building tips the protesters off to the fact that it’s a clinic day), there are lots of people out there: people handing out pamphlets with such inaccurate information, you wonder if they have ever even taken a science class (though if you’re trying to convince your followers that the world is 6,000 years old, you probably discourage scientific studies); people praying with rosaries; children who barely look old enough to stand holding signs bigger than they are; occasionally people carrying a life-size wood cross… I often wonder where they store their cross when it’s not in use. I also often wonder if they carry nails and a hammer as well, just in case they catch one of the employees alone and unprotected.
On clinic days we have volunteers to escort patients into the building, though sometimes the protestors get to them first. We often have patients complain about the harassment. The windows of the building where I work are bullet-proof, just in case.
Across the street from the WHC there is a gay bath house (duluthsauna.com). Today I look out the window of my office, and I see two guys leaning up against the side of it. They wear the typical uniform of teenage boys who want to look like they are tough and dripping with street-cred: saggy pants, wife-beater tees, and backward caps. I find myself wondering if they know the building they lean against is a gay bath house. It’s possible they do; what better way to make a little money than to suck some guy off in a hot, steamy room? Or they could be waiting for an easy target to beat and rob. It could also be a coincidence that they chose to loiter against that particular wall, totally oblivious to the looks they get from those in the know passing by in their cars. I prefer to think of them as secretly gay, and looking for love (albeit the temporary kind). I wonder if they drive a grey minivan with a giant cock and balls painted on.
The Women’s Health Center is more than an abortion clinic, but if you ask the protestors who congregate in front of the building every morning, that’s all it is. We also offer free STI testing to MN residents, pregnancy tests, birth control, health screening (PAPs, breast exams etc.). It just so happens that we are also the only facility on northern MN, WI, and MI that offers abortions. Other than the WHC, the closest abortion clinic to here would be in the twin cities. Someone should probably tell that to the people from the Christian radio station who protest over at Planned Parenthood.
Every morning when I arrive, I have to walk by the people protesting on the sidewalk out front. Some days there is only one person who arrives in his grey minivan. Although if you were to have to describe the minivan to the cops, you probably wouldn’t call it “the grey minivan,” you would probably say “the minivan with the giant fetuses painted all over it.” Not your typical grey minivan.
Other days (the days when the heavier-than-typical foot traffic into the building tips the protesters off to the fact that it’s a clinic day), there are lots of people out there: people handing out pamphlets with such inaccurate information, you wonder if they have ever even taken a science class (though if you’re trying to convince your followers that the world is 6,000 years old, you probably discourage scientific studies); people praying with rosaries; children who barely look old enough to stand holding signs bigger than they are; occasionally people carrying a life-size wood cross… I often wonder where they store their cross when it’s not in use. I also often wonder if they carry nails and a hammer as well, just in case they catch one of the employees alone and unprotected.
On clinic days we have volunteers to escort patients into the building, though sometimes the protestors get to them first. We often have patients complain about the harassment. The windows of the building where I work are bullet-proof, just in case.
Across the street from the WHC there is a gay bath house (duluthsauna.com). Today I look out the window of my office, and I see two guys leaning up against the side of it. They wear the typical uniform of teenage boys who want to look like they are tough and dripping with street-cred: saggy pants, wife-beater tees, and backward caps. I find myself wondering if they know the building they lean against is a gay bath house. It’s possible they do; what better way to make a little money than to suck some guy off in a hot, steamy room? Or they could be waiting for an easy target to beat and rob. It could also be a coincidence that they chose to loiter against that particular wall, totally oblivious to the looks they get from those in the know passing by in their cars. I prefer to think of them as secretly gay, and looking for love (albeit the temporary kind). I wonder if they drive a grey minivan with a giant cock and balls painted on.