At first glance, the site could have been someone’s back yard provisioned for a group campout. Several tents in varying sizes and hues stood in place, ready to be occupied, with a matching pair of purple camp chairs positioned nearby.
A table held an assortment of snacks, adding to the festive appearance.
The tableau, though, did not have a residential setting. The group campsite occupied a grassy space just behind the Lakeland Women’s Health Center, set along a bustling stretch of South Florida Avenue. An inscription on a small blackboard propped along Horizon Court attested to the purpose of the gathering: OccupyPolk May 9-12.
A group of abortion-rights advocates staged the three-day action this week to protest the six-week abortion ban recently passed by the Florida Legislature and to prepare for the launch of a petition drive aimed at asking Florida voters to approve a constitutional amendment ensuring abortion rights.
By staging the event at the only clinic in Polk County that performs non-emergency abortions, the organizers also planned to exert a vocal counter-presence to the anti-abortion demonstrators who protest there twice a week.
Bonnie Patterson-James, a main organizer of abortion-rights events in Lakeland in recent years, gripped a microphone Tuesday afternoon and addressed about 20 fellow activists in the clinic’s front parking lot. Patterson-James had spent much of the legislative session in Tallahassee, where she joined the Occupy Tally campaign, a protest against the six-week abortion measure co-sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Canady, R-Lakeland.