00:00This is Kentucky's last abortion clinic.
00:05EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville is the only clinic that has stayed open in the state,
00:11despite the efforts of Governor Matt Bevin.
00:16Now, Bevin's administration is taking EMW to court on the grounds that it lacks transfer agreements
00:23with a hospital and an ambulance service in the event of a medical emergency.
00:27My name is Erin Clark, and I am here today because we have a lot of protesters outside of our
00:34clinic here in Louisville, Kentucky,
00:36and it makes it really chaotic for the clients trying to access abortion services.
00:40The governor is very anti-abortion and has been using a lot of technicalities to try to shut down clinics
00:48or not allow other clinics like Planned Parenthood to open and offer abortion services.
00:52The technicality specifically for EMW in Louisville is that the state law requires that you have to have a transfer
01:00agreement with a hospital.
01:02Well, they said that the transfer agreement was not signed by the right person.
01:07All their licenses were revoked.
01:12No one should have to stay pregnant if they don't want to be pregnant.
01:17Abortion is 14 times safer than staying pregnant and giving birth.
01:21So I think it's unfair to ask people to take that kind of risk if they are not willing to
01:27do that.
01:36Much of the support for the anti-abortion movement stems from the fact that 80% of Kentucky's population identifies
01:42as Christian.
01:45My name is Peggy Strange.
01:48I'm down here.
01:49I give my testimony into the window to women because I had an abortion years ago when I was about
01:5824.
01:59And I lived with mine for 28 years.
02:03I buried it very deep.
02:05And I went into drugs and alcohol trying to kill a pain.
02:12I was always angry.
02:13Didn't know why.
02:15And then things started coming to the surface.
02:18And I went and got help through a Bible study about, you know, my abortion.
02:23And it did help me.
02:32I agree with the state close in this clinic.
02:35I am.
02:36I agree with it.
02:42Other Kentucky locals don't think that a pro-choice stance and the Christian faith are necessarily incompatible.
02:52I'm Reverend Millie Horning Peters.
02:56And I'm currently co-chair of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
03:02and coordinator of Concerned Clergy for Choice.
03:06When I was a young adult, I was interested in women's rights.
03:11And then serving as a clergywoman in Illinois,
03:15the issue of women's rights was prominent.
03:22Women were not well received in the pulpit at that time.
03:26There's been a big difference.
03:28I wasn't sure I would live to even see the day that a woman could stand in the pulpit
03:33and a big issue not be made out of it.
03:36But that day has arrived.
03:38And I'm hopeful that the same thing will happen with our reproductive issues.
03:45The real thing is a woman's right to determine what happens to her own body.
03:52Just the freedom to make those choices.
03:57And I've always been about that.
04:00Roe v. Wade is the law of the land.
04:04The 14th Amendment says that we have the right to the laws of the land.
04:12And these restrictions and burdens are being placed to try to undo that
04:20and take that particular freedom of choice away from women and families.
04:27And it isn't the place of politicians to determine that.
04:32The Unitarians, including First Unitarian, have been strong with LGBT, Black Lives Matter,
04:38gun control against violence.
04:39There is another religious viewpoint.
04:42There's more than the one.
04:45We're not well organized as a big group or well financed.
04:50We're not out raising money for our cause.
04:53But we are compassionate people who listen, who have understanding and empathy.
05:04And we're living compassion.
05:12The arc of justice, they say, is always leaning forward.
05:20But it doesn't move on its own.
05:22And it moves slowly and gradually.
05:27But it's moving.
05:28And I think that that's where we are.
05:32We're moving forward as a network of justice people.
05:37The federal trial began in early September.
05:40It was expected to last two to three days.
