On the Front Lines of Florida’s Abortion Wars
This story is part of States of Our Union, a series presented in collaboration between Economic Hardship Reporting Project, The Nation and Magnum Photos. This story was co-published with Le Temps.
For years, the same scene had played out outside the small Woman’s World Medical Center every Saturday and Monday, the clinic’s appointment days. The facility, which opened in 1991 more than an hour north of major urban centers on the Florida coast, is the last abortion provider in the area. And it cannot afford a permanent physician.
In the Florida heat, pro-lifers waited for the small black car that had left a few hours earlier from a medical center in Fort Pierce, a city of 47,000 on the Atlantic coast. There it was, at last. The driver had gone to pick up a doctor at an undisclosed location. The mysterious passenger wore a false beard and hat to avoid being recognized, a strategy justified by the murder of several abortionists in the United States since the 1990s. “Murderer! Butcher!” a pro-life activist shouted before the car disappeared into the narrow garage of the green mansion that houses the clinic.
Read the full story in The Nation.
Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
Karen, a pro-choice activist, placing a sign in front the “Woman’s World” abortion clinic in front of the group of pro-life demonstrators. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
Pat and Kent, two pro-choice abortion clinic escorts doing voluntary work in front of the “A Woman’s World” abortion clinic in Fort Pierce. Their task is to protect the women who are entering the clinic from the harassment of the pro-life protesters that camp in front of the clinic. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
Two pro-life activists camping in front of “A Woman’s World” abortion clinic in Fort Pierce. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
The signs of the two clinics, one performing abortions and the other one dissuading women from the treatment at 12th and Delaware street in Fort Pierce, Florida. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
A sample of the propaganda material that pro-life activists and clinics use to convince women to not have an abortion. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
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- Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
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- Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
Pro-life demonstrators camp in front of the “A Woman’s Choice” abortion clinic trying to dissuade the women entering the building. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
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- The interior of the abortion clinic, A Woman’s World. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
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- The interior of the abortion clinic, A Woman’s World. Photo by Cristina de Middel / Magnum Photos
Author
About the author
Cristina De Middel explores photography's ambiguous relationship to truth. Moving away from 10 years of pure documentary photography, she now blends documentary and conceptual photographic practices, playing with reconstructions and archetypes to build a more layered understanding of the subjects she approaches.
