05-18 3527 Lincoln Way West Zone Map Amendment

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February 14, 2018 Dear South Bend Common Council Members, I am a Ph.D.student at the University of Notre Dame in the field of biogeochemistry, and I will be graduating this May. I would like to share a personal story detailing a particularly difficult time during the 6 years that i have lived in South Bend.After struggling with the University of Notre Dame's restrictive birth control policies, I found myself unintentionally pregnant in the summer of 2014. Due to health concerns, my partner and I made the decision to have an abortion, This was a truly challenging decision because we knew that Indiana was not a friendly state to women's reproductive rights. I am originally from Texas, but throughout this process, I learned that Indiana's environment was even more hostile towards abortion providers or patients seeking abortion care than I had realized. I first called Planned Parenthood where I was told that the location in Mishawaka did not provide abortions, and that I should attend a Women's Care Center to obtain a pregnancy test. I was also advised that I should be cautious about sharing my intentions with the Women's Care Center. I then set up an appointment with Women's Care Center to acquire a pregnancy test. After hearing my test results, I was subject to counseling including many intrusive questions about whether or not I wanted to have the baby.Staff at the Women's Care Center were particularly aggressive and attempted to follow up with me multiple times by phone about parenting classes and other unsolicited resources. Shortly after, I made an appointment to procure an abortion with the Women's Pavilion in South Bend. My partner,who is now my spouse, accompanied me. We drove by the abortion clinic,which is located right next to a Women's Care Center location,and we immediately saw around a dozen Right to Life protestors outside along with a news crew. We quickly decided to park our car at the nearby MacDonald's and walk because we did not want anyone taking down the license plate. As we attempted to walk by the protesters,they immediately started swarming us, getting in our face, and shouting. Thankfully,clinic defense volunteers helped shepherd us into the clinic, but the entire experience was quite intimidating.Then as we entered the clinic, I was faced with more barriers that are mandated by the state of Indiana. First, I had to undergo an ultrasound, be asked if I wanted to see the image, and then receive state-mandated counseling that was clearly geared towards discouraging me from having an abortion. Despite the fact that having an abortion is safer than childbirth,this counseling also included medically inaccurate information intended to scare me. Even though I had already made the decision to have an abortion,the state mandates a waiting period. We were therefore forced to come back to the clinic in person to receive the medication for a medical abortion. Of course,this means having to walk through what feels like a sea of protesters again. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about our safety and whether the clinic would get bombed while we were inside. Needless to say,this entire experience was harrowing. I consider myself a physically and emotionally strong woman, and yet the vehement hate and violence typical of these radical anti- abortion activists shook me to the core. I firmly believe that women in South Bend need access to compassionate abortion care. Whole Woman's Health would provide such a clinic, and its location was strategically chosen to provide a private parking lot and a space without protesters. Unfortunately,Women's Care Center bought the residential home next door so that they can intimidate and confuse women seeking abortion C 6 l V L�� ` S FEB 2 0 2 01 R AREA PLAN COMMISSION