{"id":32137,"date":"2023-05-11T14:13:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T18:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=32137"},"modified":"2023-05-11T14:13:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T18:13:59","slug":"abortion-rights-advocates-stage-occupy-polk-and-petition-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/05\/11\/abortion-rights-advocates-stage-occupy-polk-and-petition-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion-rights advocates stage &#8216;Occupy Polk&#8217; and petition drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first glance, the site could have been someone\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"422\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Clinic-tents.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32138\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A table held an assortment of snacks, adding to the festive appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tableau, though, did not have a residential setting. The group campsite occupied a grassy space just behind the Lakeland Women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"465\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" src=\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Clinic-protest.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32139\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At first glance, the site could have been someone\u2019s back yard provisioned for a group campout. Several tents in varying sizes and hues stood in place, ready to be occupied,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[5017],"class_list":["post-32137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-abortion-rights-advocates-stage-occupy-polk-and-petition-drive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}