(3 of 3)
For now, the M&M volunteers have been spared the gauntlet of antiabortion protesters who had at one time routinely picketed and blockaded the Des Moines clinic. A year ago, a judge ordered Operation Rescue to stay away from the facility, which has been guarded by U.S. Marshals since Dr. John Britton was shot in Pensacola, Florida, in July. But June is worried that this may be "the calm before the storm." Two weeks ago, local antiabortion activists met to strategize against the M&M trials.
By last week, 50 patients at the Des Moines clinic had become part of the national trials. For Patient 001 it was "a positive experience. I don't think any kind of termination of an unwanted pregnancy is easy. But the pills seem to me to be a lot less traumatic." Planned Parenthood expects many other women to agree. "The scientific genie is out of the bottle," says June. "This technology is available to the women of Europe. Now the women of America will be satisfied with nothing less."
FOOTNOTE: *The names of patients have been changed.