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The Life and Logic of an Anti-Abortion Protester

Even die-hard anti-abortion protesters can't fully buy into the stories they tell each other.



Three days a week, 79-year-old Dick Retta camps out in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, D.C. and tries to stop women from receiving abortions. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Retta for succeeding: According to the claim, Retta violated the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act when he “physically obstructed a patient and volunteer escorts” from attempting to enter the facility one day in January.

I’ve seen Retta in action at the clinic many times, both as a reporter and a patient (while living in D.C., I frequented Planned Parenthood for routine medical care, though never for an abortion). The FACE prosecution is just the most recent legal power shift between the clinic and the small group of protesters that populates its lawn. Last summer, Retta and a group of national anti-abortion activists succeeded in moving 40 feet closer to the clinic, securing protesters an extra ten seconds between the time a patient enters the property and disappears into its doors. The last time I saw Retta, he had begun following patients straight into the building and then pressing his face to the glass.

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