Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America

by Lauren Rankin

Overview

A powerfully empathetic and impeccably researched look at abortion clinic escorting, which Rebecca Traister (the New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad) calls “one of the most undercovered and crucial, life-saving, rigorous forms of activism out there.”

Abortion has been legal for nearly 50 years in the United States, but the threat to its existence has never been more pressing. Throughout years of terrorism and violence, it was clinic escorts—everyday volunteers—who stood up and found a way to protect abortion access when no one else would. They have lived, and sometimes died, to make abortion not only practically accessible but fundamentally human. Clinic escorts have fought the “abortion wars” on the frontlines, and it is clinic escorts who will win it, by replacing hostility with humanity.

Through the stories of volunteers from around the country—including the author’s own personal story as a clinic escort—interviews with clinic staff and patients, and research and input from abortion rights experts, journalist Lauren Rankin’s debut Bodies On the Line makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity, and the stakes facing us all if it ends. These harrowing stories will both haunt and inspire readers to pick up their own proverbial vest and use the power of empathy to defend this most basic right before it’s too late.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640094741
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

LAUREN RANKIN is a writer, speaker, and expert in abortion rights in the U.S. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Cut, Fast Company, Teen Vogue, Refinery29, NBC News, and many more. She spent six years as an abortion clinic escort in northern New Jersey, and is a board member of “A is For,” a reproductive rights advocacy organization. Find out more at laurenarankin.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How Did We Get Here? 3

Chapter 1 The Birth of a Movement 11

The Opposition Escalates 18

A Burgeoning Battleground 26

Chapter 2 I Fought the Law and the Law Won 51

Time to Face the Music 55

How Far Is Not Far Enough? 63

Protesting's Face-Lift 71

Chapter 3 Too Many to Count 82

The Swarm Returns 90

Upping the Ante 96

A New Kind of Defense 104

Chapter 4 Last Clinic Standing 110

Alone in a Crowd 115

Lighting the Fuse 121

How Many Miles to Go? 128

Chapter 5 From Bombs to Bans 138

An Old Fight Made New 142

The Deception Inception 147

From the Sidewalk to the Suburbs 152

Chapter 6 A Sanctuary State of Mind 161

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back 165

The Reality of a "Regional Hub" 181

Chapter 7 A Clinic Escort Without a Country 194

How Did I Even Get Here? 202

From the Underground to the Foreground 208

Chapter 8 How Do You Solve a Problem Like Abortion? 218

The Limits of the Law 222

The Humanity of Abortion 234

Epilogue: Hindsight Is 2020 243

Acknowledgments 247

Notes 251

Editorial Reviews

02/01/2022

This history of abortion clinic escorts in the United States by writer and activist Rankin is timely, engaging, and full of compassion. Clinic escorts help pregnant people seeking abortion care to safely enter a medical facility, often having to walk past aggressive anti-choice protestors. By taking on this responsibility to support health care, clinic escorts put themselves in harm's way and are vulnerable to harassment and even violence. Almost all clinic escorts are volunteers, and Rankin argues that their stories illustrate the harmful tactics by which anti-choice activists target people seeking abortions, and also that dedicated clinic escorts have been critical in maintaining access to abortion. The volunteers whom Rankin spotlights come from across the U.S. and span nearly 50 years, beginning in the post-Roe 1970s, continuing through the "Operation Rescue" demonstrations of the 1980s and '90s, and ending in 2021, when attacks on abortion access and the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic came together to create a uniquely hostile environment for abortion clinics. VERDICT This sweeping history will leave readers wanting to learn more. It is both a celebration of devoted volunteer clinic escorts and a call to action to improve the circumstances under which people seek health care.—Sarah Schroeder

Library Journal

★ 2022-01-12
A history of the abortion-rights movement told through the lens of abortion clinic escorts.

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, women’s reproductive rights have been under attack. Much of the battle has occurred legislatively, particularly through bans at the local level. But as Rankin shows, another danger is the contingent of protestors who attempt to halt abortion by physically blocking access to services and whose ultimate goal is to shut down clinics. “If you live in one of the 10 percent of U.S. counties that still has an abortion clinic,” writes the author, who served as an abortion escort for six years in New Jersey, “there is probably a group of picketers outside of it right now.” As early as 1988, when a group called Operation Rescue “conducted 182 blockades” of clinics, a group of abortion-rights activists began to create the first “clinic defense networks,” which ensured that patients could access important health services. This proved to be the vital beginning of the abortion escort movement. In the years that followed, escorts organized against everything from blockades and clinic closures to the murder of providers. When their local clinics were shut, escorts found new, behind-the-scenes ways to support patients needing abortions, including amassing funding for those who couldn’t afford the procedure. Although the introduction of right-wing judges during the Trump administration has rendered abortion’s legality more tenuous than ever, escorts remain active and ready to fight. Rankin’s passion for women’s health blazes on the page, and she is adept at connecting disparate events to create a cohesive historical narrative. At times, the plethora of profiles makes it difficult to keep track of the principals, but this is an important book nonetheless.

A stunning, compassionate history of an overlooked element within the abortion-rights movement in the U.S.

Kirkus Reviews

Longlisted for the Reading the West Book Awards

“Bodies on the Line tells the stories of communities that came together . . . to offer patients comfort and protection . . . The book comes at a critical moment for the constitutional right to abortion in the United States . . . The very need for clinic escort teams is a testament to the inability of current laws to secure safe, comfortable care for patients.” —The New York Times Book Review

"Lauren Rankin, who volunteers at a clinic in New Jersey, skillfully traces the history of clinic escorts and highlights the importance of taking action to protect access to abortion, even once Roe is gone." — Andrea González-Ramírez, The Cut

"Rankin’s research for the book is methodical and exhaustive . . . By not engaging in discursive debates and wild speculation on politics and legislation, Rankin keeps the book focused on the human-level experience of escorts and patients . . . 'For just as long as there has been legal abortion in the U.S., there has been a dedicated and concerted effort to undermine it,' wrote Rankin. Luckily, we have people like Rankin and all the clinic escorts profiled in her book putting their bodies on the line every day." —Carly Willsie, Ms.

"A searing history of the people who have made abortion access possible for decades . . . Bodies On the Line is clear-eyed about the future of abortion access, and what we will have to do for abortion access even when physical abortion clinics are gone. —Kylie Cheung, Jezebel, 1 of 10 Best Books of the Year

"A must-read to understand the physical and emotional labor that comes with the fight to ensure that abortion is both accessible and a human right." —Electric Literature

"This history of abortion clinic escorts in the United States by writer and activist Rankin is timely, engaging, and full of compassion . . . This sweeping history will leave readers wanting to learn more. It is both a celebration of devoted volunteer clinic escorts and a call to action to improve the circumstances under which people seek health care." —Library Journal

"Rankin’s passion for women’s health blazes on the page, and she is adept at connecting disparate events to create a cohesive historical narrative . . . A stunning, compassionate history of an overlooked element within the abortion-rights movement in the U.S." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A powerful tribute to abortion clinic escorts . . . Lucidly written and sharply argued, this is a sobering and timely dispatch from the fight to preserve abortion rights.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Writer and activist Rankin presents a fervent abortion-rights history from the clinic escort’s perspective . . . An ode to her fellow volunteers and a rallying cry for the fundamental rights that now hang so perilously close to abolition." —Booklist

"Important reading with the current challenges to Roe v. Wade." —Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

“Lauren Rankin’s passionate defense of women’s reproductive rights is inspiring. She is on the forefront of this incredibly important issue.” ––Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

"Bodies on the Line tells the story of the unsung heroes who have done so much to help women exercise their reproductive rights—clinic escorts. Who they are, why they’re there, and what they have endured is mind-boggling, frustrating, and ultimately inspiring. Americans owe a debt to these volunteer activists who literally put their bodies on the line for those rights.” ––Elisa Camahort Page, co-author, Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All

“Where the law has failed to protect abortion patients, grassroots activists have kept showing up. Bodies on the Line is an impressively reported, compassionate chronicle of what it means to truly support abortion access, and the story it tells couldn’t be more timely.” —Irin Carmon, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Notorious RBG

“Bodies on the Line is a story of the courage, hope, and defiance embodied by generations of clinic escorts and activists—and a timely reminder that the fight for safe and legal abortion has always unfolded not only in courtrooms and legislatures, but in our communities. With this book, Lauren Rankin answers the question posed by so many—‘How did we get here?’—and urges readers to be part of shaping the future of reproductive rights in America.” —Cecile Richards, former President of Planned Parenthood and New York Times bestselling author of Make Trouble

"Bodies on the Line is an exciting history of clinic escorting. The people who do this work have helped shape access to abortion in America. While I wish this work and such a book were not needed, everyone needs to know this story and why it matters." —Dr. Jen Gunter, New York Times bestselling author of The Vagina Bible

"Lauren Rankin has written a testament to the humanity that is central to the procedure, and the act, of abortion. She has walked the walk, and shared with other dedicated clinic escorts the fear and the dehumanization, and the threats, that patients face every time they walk into a clinic to receive basic health care. Here, directly from the front lines, are unique and untold stories that broaden our understanding of what it takes today for people to get the care they deserve, what we stand to lose when they can’t, and what we need to do if we’re to see our right to bodily autonomy fully realized. Bodies on the Line is an essential read for this moment of crisis." —Martha Plimpton, actor, activist, and cofounder of A is For

"You're used to reading about the abortion battle in the courts; Lauren Rankin's Bodies on the Line shows you that battle in the streets. With the bone-deep political commitment of an activist, and the keen historical eye of an archivist, Rankin shows how abortion clinics—and the sidewalks in front of them—became some of America's most fiercely contested public spaces. The stories that Rankin collects from five decades of clinic defense provide instruction, both in the dedication of the escorts and in the tactics they used to outsmart their opposition. Bodies on the Line edified me and enraged me—and it also gave me hope." —Moira Donegan, columnist at The Guardian

From the Publisher

09/01/2022

As our nation wrestles with the fallout of the Supreme Court decision in June 2022 reversing the right to a legal abortion, this title tells of the thousands of brave men and women who literally put their bodies on the line for women to have access to legal, safe abortions. This is a little-known part of the abortion rights story and one that might be lost to time if not recounted in books like this one. Writer and speaker Rankin was one of the volunteers who escorted patients and clinic staff through the throngs of angry anti-abortion protestors. The firsthand stories of playing cat and mouse with organized protestors, trying to guess where they would attack, and beating them to the location in the days without cell phones is riveting. Narrator Kate Udall is an excellent choice for this book. Her tone and cadence perfectly match the passion and solemnity of the topic. VERDICT Recommended for medium and large public libraries and any other libraries where women's issues are strong circulators.—Gretchen Pruett

Library Journal - Audio