Yesterday, I went to an abortion clinic in Queens along with a few other interns. While there, we stood outside the clinic passing out pamphlets and counseling women who came in for an abortion. At one point, the clinic workers came outside and told us that we could not stand within 15 feet of the premises. Julie, a full-time worker for EMC, kindly told the women that the Clinic Access Law had not been put into effect yet (it goes into effect on July 20th). The workers then said that they were calling the police. And they did. The police came and asked us what was going on. Thankfully, the workers had gone back inside. Julie explained what we were doing, and the police officers told us that as long as we did not block the clinic's doors, we were fine. They then left without another word.
About thirty minutes later, two clinic workers called the cops again on us. Two new cops came, and without waiting for an explanation, they came out of their car and asked for my ID (and my ID only). I obliged, and they went back to their car. The clinic workers then came outside and went up to the police officers. Meanwhile, Julie had been trying to talk to the officers, but they would not listen. They listened to whatever the clinic worker had to say, though.
After awhile, one of the clinic workers went back inside and then came out immediately with a piece of paper in their hand. They handed it to the police officer. After a few minutes, both workers went back inside. The police officer came up to me and said that he was writing me up because I had been "blocking the door." I immediately became angry by this statement because I had not been blocking the door. That was a complete lie. Julie tried to defend me, but he cut her off saying, "You need to shut up. You talk too much and argue too much. I am talking to this boy, not you!" He then told me that I had to go to court on August 28th. The other police officer with him snidely said, "If you don't show up to court, then they are putting an arrest warrant on you!" The police explained that they were writing me up because I was not supposed to be within 15 feet of the clinic doors. When Julie explained that this law had not taken effect yet, the officer took out the paper the clinic worker had given him which only stated what day the law was signed. He would not even listen to us how the law was not in effect yet. He then said he was writing me up to "justify his existence." This angered me even more because a police officer shouldn't write someone up simply to show that the police do have authority. The officer also said that if I tried to plead not guilty, he'd make sure he was there to make sure I was found guilty!
So I now have to come back to New York City during my college school year to go to court. This just shows the corruption and injustice of some of the police officers in the country. I did not even break a single law, but I was treated as if I was a criminal. So simply say your prayers so that this all can be worked out!
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