GUEST POST: As the Greenville, South Carolina leader for the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, I want the very best for women and preborn children — which is why I am in strong support of the resolution that Greenville Councilman Stan Tzouvelekas introduced this week. This measure would revoke the business license of the Greenville Women’s Clinic (GWC) abortion facility on Grove Road for being a nuisance business, and local pro-life advocates like me are urging the County Council to pass it. Here’s why: 

Clearly, this facility is a danger to the community because they profit off the deaths of preborn children, but it also presents problems for citizens who have already been born due to the actions of the pro-abortion protesters who work together with the GWC.  

These protesters violently harass peaceful pro-life individuals, including myself, who stand outside the facility or even on the other side of the road, silently praying, hoping, and encouraging people to choose life. We have a First Amendment right to do so — but these abortion supporters don’t seem to care. In fact, they seem to think it’s their right to trample upon us.  

In the past, I have had the police wrongly called on me (for the ridiculous and untrue assertion that I broke an umbrella of theirs while they were using it to block my pro-life sign). In addition, along with many others, I’ve also had multiple pieces of property stolen by these protesters. I’ve also had cowbells rung in my ears for more than four hours straight while merely standing quietly outside. 

When we try to move away from the entrance to the GWC, even going across the street, these protesters just continue to follow us and harass us. They also disgustingly hang condoms filled with rotting food around the facility to try to prevent us from exercising our First Amendment rights. 

This resolution is not about the legality of abortion in Greenville County as it doesn’t prohibit or restrict abortion. Instead, all this resolution would do is revoke the business license of a specific business for being a nuisance as there have been more than three hundred 911 calls made about incidents outside the GWC, concluding in twenty plus arrests. 

Those on the other side of this say they are opposed to this resolution because of some of the non-abortive services that the GWC provides like Pap smears — but those services are provided at many other locations across Greenville County, including at the Piedmont Women’s Center across the road which provides all their services for free. Who needs such a disruptive and uncivil facility when these other peaceful alternatives exist?  

At this past Tuesday’s council meeting when the resolution was introduced, there was overwhelming support for it. When it was introduced, most in the audience erupted into cheers with only about one-third of the audience standing in opposition to it. Such a response is understandable: this facility is nothing but bad news for Greenville County and Upstate, South Carolina. We can and must do better than the GWC.  

The Greenville Campaign for Abortion Free Cities will continue to lead efforts to educate and support our community in understanding what an abortion facility free Greenville could look like. In Greenville alone, there are six federally qualified healthcare centers, five pregnancy resource centers (some of which offer free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, material assistance, Pap smears, and STD/STI testing), and five other resource centers that specialize in adoption support, financial assistance, housing, peer to peer support, and affordable obstetric care. Clearly, women will continue to have good care.  

If you would like to let the Greenville County Councilors know that you support the passing of this resolution, click HERE to send them an email.  

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