{"id":222545,"date":"2020-04-25T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=222545"},"modified":"2020-04-24T17:03:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T22:03:44","slug":"national-abortion-federation-pro-life-covid-selfish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/national-abortion-federation-pro-life-covid-selfish\/","title":{"rendered":"National Abortion Federation president: Pro-life outreach during COVID-19 is ‘selfish’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Episcopal priest and president of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), <\/span>Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale<\/span>, recently called for law enforcement to crack down on pro-life gatherings outside of abortion businesses. In a NAF press release<\/a> from April 22,\u00a0<\/span>Ragsdale<\/span> decried<\/a> the actions of pro-lifers as \u201cshameful,\u201d accusing them of endangering people\u2019s lives by continuing to reach out to abortion-vulnerable women during the coronavirus (COVID-19).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not only selfish–it’s dangerous,” <\/span>Ragsdale<\/span> said.\u00a0 “In many places, these protesters are able to walk right up to patients as they enter or exit the facility or surround them as they walk to and from their cars.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Ragsdale<\/span> stated the behavior of pro-lifers is \u201cthreatening to patients.\u201d She claimed to have heard reports of protestors coughing on clinic escorts, as well as touching women and abortionists as they entered the facility. Though she cited concerns about <\/span>CDC guidelines<\/span><\/a> not being followed, she did not condemn the behavior of abortion workers witnessed by pro-lifers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"National

Rev. Katherine Ragsdale attends the OUT celebration of The OUT100 at Skylight Soho on November 17, 2011 in New York City. (Getty images)<\/p><\/div>\n

READ:\u00a0Dedicated pro-life sidewalk counselors continue to reach women during COVID-19<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In just one example, a security guard at a <\/span>Trust Women<\/span><\/a> clinic in Wichita, Kansas placed a bag of vomit in the hand of a pro-life sidewalk counselor. <\/span>Recently, the <\/span>Hope Clinic for Women<\/span><\/a> in Granite City, Illinois, packed as many as 40 patients into a waiting room all at once. An injured woman was sent to the hospital, and as pro-lifers gathered outside the facility looked on in concern, a staff member smiled and gave a thumbs-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the <\/span>abortion industry<\/span><\/a> uses the pandemic to expand access to abortion, women are being put at risk for complications. <\/span>Serious side effects<\/span><\/a> from a surgical or a non-surgical abortion may require a woman to seek emergency care at a hospital that\u2019s already flooded with COVID-19 patients. Even worse, the\u00a0<\/span>abortion industry<\/span><\/a> has admitted that its employees use \u201cvery little\u201d protective gear when performing procedures on patients — this, despite abortion organizations publicly begging for PPE<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n