Summer Celebration of Choice

The Summer Celebration of Choice has come to an end. We're still catching up on all we fell behind on while working on our tans last week! But some of our great friends have wrap-ups for you.

• From Erin Matson at NOW, "A Summer of Choice: What We Learned in Germantown."
• From the Feminist Majority Foundation, campus organizer Sarah Shanks writes "Summer of Choice Unites Community Abortion Activists" and campus organizer Laura Kacere writes "They Say No Choice, We Say Pro Choice!"
• From the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a press release "Positive and Affirming: Volunteers Stand as A Spiritual and Moral Force at Summer Celebration of Choice" and a blog entry "A Joyous Celebration of Choice" by Communications Director Marjorie Signer.
• From Words of Choice, Cindy Cooper writes "Summer of Celebration: We Say, Thank You, Doctors!"
• From the World Can't Wait, a Flickr photo set called "Summer of Trust/Summer of Choice" and a blog entry "Defending Abortion Doctor Carhart and the Lives of Women".
• The grassroots "Summer of Trust" group has more blogs, pictures, and links at www.summeroftrust.com.

Thank you so much to everyone for the great blog posts and photos, and thank you too to the hundreds of people who stood with us, donated to us or fundraised for us, brought us food or coffee or water, gave rides, made signs and banners and flyers, offered us crash space or fellowship space or the use of their bathrooms, spread the word and talked friends into coming, or just honked and waved driving past. Thanks too to the law enforcement officers and local officials who helped keep us all safe. And lastly, thanks to Operation Rescue and its cronies: without them, the inspiring, invigorating, connection-making, nine-day-long abortion-rights organizing meeting that was the Summer Celebration of Choice could not have happened.

Please keep an eye on our e-mail announcement list for further updates!

We are over five days into our Peaceful Pro-Choice Presence, which means we've been too busy hanging out outside the clinic to spend much time blogging! But now that we've passed the halfway mark of our Summer Celebration of Choice, we thought a quick update might be in order.

Our Kick-Off Walk on Sunday was nothing short of a triumph. NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland posted a great photo album of the day of the walk, and the Washington Post has a story and photos. Our own careful count showed a total of 220 to 240 supporters with us that afternoon, and we raised approximately $2,000 in cash donations for the non-profit Abortion Access Fund to add to the online fundraising total of $10,000. We were very delighted that our number one fundraiser, Zoe Nicholson, was able to be with us in person that day all the way from her home in California. Rounding out our top 10 fundraisers were second-place Rivka C Gates, Neda Bolourian, Deva Love, Kathryn Ranieri, Nicole Price, Susana M Vega, Kari A Rinker, Alberta Maschal, and Claire B Edwards. We are grateful beyond words for the inspiring collective effort of all our fundraisers, donors, walkers, volunteers, and horn-honkers who made the day such a success.

That was five days ago. Ever since, we have maintained our Peaceful Pro-Choice Presence outside of the clinic, from early morning to near dark each day. From locals who stop by for an hour at their lunch break or after work, to stalwarts who traveled hundreds of miles on their own dime to stand with us all day long, we all stand as a visible display of our community's true-blue pro-choice beliefs. Our signs and banners proclaiming support for Dr. Carhart, for all abortion providers, and for their patients draw honks, waves, and upturned thumbs from passersby, some of whom even stop to unload water or coffee or doughnuts or cookies or pizza for our grateful supporters. The stark difference between the response to our presence and the response to the cluster of nasty anti-choice signs down the street could not be more clear--or more rewarding to those of us on the side of trusting women. One other difference to note: we're having fun out here!

There are still several more days of Peaceful Pro-Choice Presence yet to go, which means there is still time for you to join us. We'd like to extend a particular invitation to come out this Sunday afternoon at 1:30 PM, when, in addition to our Peaceful Pro-Choice Presence, we are also hosting an Interfaith Prayer Circle for Choice. The event will be led by the Reverend Lynn Strauss, Unitarian Universalist Minister serving in Montgomery Count, and all are welcome.

All of us are so thrilled at the outpouring of support from this community. We are truly blessed to have so many steadfast friends. Your support helps us to continue our much-needed work. A million thanks--Dr. Carhart and all of us are grateful, and so are the women we serve.

Follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook for updates as our Summer Celebration of Choice rolls on, or keep an eye on the Summer of Trust page for links to media and blogger coverage of our event.

Welcome to all who saw us on the front page of today's paper. For more excellent, timely reporting on a related topic, check out today's story from Mother Jones magazine about one Maryland woman who opted for abortion at twenty-nine weeks after discovering her fetus "was expected to suffer from nearly constant seizures." She was not a patient of Dr. Carhart's, but heartbreaking stories like hers are a reminder of why legislators should leave the decision-making to women, and the doctoring to doctors.

If you are one of the majority of Americans who believe that access to safe, legal abortion care is a woman's right, please consider supporting us in Germantown next week. You can attend our fundraiser walk on Sunday or just donate to help ensure that no woman is refused the health care she needs due to lack of money; you can also stand in solidarity with us outside the clinic against anti-choice protesters or you can donate frequent flier miles to a grassroots group of supporters who is willing to do so. You can spread the word about our week-long event via Facebook and Twitter. Lastly, write a letter to your legislators or to your own local paper reminding them that abortion is health care and health care is a right. Thank you!

Our Kick-Off Walk is just one week away, and we've posted a leaderboard that lists our top five fundraisers. Our current number one has a pretty substantial lead, but watch out--our number two wasn't even on the list this time yesterday! A thousand thanks to all of our walkers and donors.

The Summer Celebration of Choice is hosting a Peaceful Pro-Choice Presence outside of our clinic in Germantown, MD, as anti-choicers converge on the area from July 31 to August 7. The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, in coalition with the Feminist Majority Foundation & the National Organization for Women, will provide trainings on how to stay safe & stay positive in an environment of potentially-hostile protesters: one on 7/26 in DC and one on 7/31 in Montgomery County MD, with shorter "crash course" training onsite at the clinic each morning from 8/1 to 8/5.

Come for the skills training, stay for the mingling with some of DC's and Maryland's fabulous pro-choice activist communities, plus activists traveling from as far away as California to support Dr. Carhart! And at our Maryland event, stay even longer for a performance of Cindy Cooper's powerful pro-choice theater project "Words of Choice," in a special collaboration with Heather Ault of "4000 Years for Choice!"

RSVP for either training on Facebook. And don't forget to sign up for time slots where you can join us in Germantown.

Come walk with us to stand with us! Web registration for our July 31st Kick-Off Walk to benefit the Abortion Access Fund, Inc. is now open. Whether you plan to join us in person or just in spirit, you can sign up as a walk participant and become eligible to earn some nifty prizes, including a chance to have dinner with Dr. Carhart. You'll be able to create your own customized fundraiser page where you can track your progress and share with your friends and family why supporting the Summer Celebration of Choice is important to you. Best of all, the donations you can raise will go toward ensuring access to abortion care for those who need it most.

The National Organization for Women had its annual conference last weekend in Tampa, Florida. There, the members passed a resolution of support for both the Summer Celebration of Choice and the Summer of Trust. Thank you to the inspiring leaders and the dedicated members of NOW, and we hope to see you all in Germantown this summer!

Welcome to the first annual Summer Celebration of Choice! As you may already know, Dr. LeRoy Carhart has become the new target for Summer of Mercy 2.0. In the spirit of honoring Dr. Tiller’s courageous fight through the horror of the Summer of Mercy in 1991, we are inviting you all to Germantown, Maryland for the first annual Summer Celebration of Choice.

The main event of our week-long Summer Celebration of Choice will be our Kick-Off Walk on Sunday, July 31, at 1 PM. This walk will be a fundraiser to benefit the Abortion Access Fund, Inc. (AAF).

Throughout the week we would love to show Maryland its largest pro-choice presence ever. Whether you can come for a few hours or a few days, we would be honored for you to join us in showing Germantown and the nation that we are pro-choice, we are proud, and we will not be silenced.

Please note that this event is not a counter-protest, but rather a peaceful pro-choice presence and a show of community support for Dr. Carhart, his staff, and his patients. We will not be engaging in any dialogue, argument, or confrontation with any anti-choice protesters, and we are working with law enforcement to ensure everyone's safety over the course of the week.

Check back in a few days for information on how to register to participate in the Kick-Off Walk, how to participate in our pro-choice visibility, and more events to be announced soon. You can also sign up for our email list to be alerted as soon as more information is posted, or email us at info@summerofchoice.com.