A is For’s Clinic Escort Series Comic Book, (https://www.aisfor.org/merch/clinic-escorts-stories-from-the-front-lines) edited by New Yorker artist Emily Flake, is a beautiful and compelling compilation. It tells the stories of abortion clinic escorts and illustrates - quite literally - the realities of being on the front lines, escorting patients through hostile crowds into clinics so they can receive needed medical care.

The book was created and published with the financial support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and individual donors. We are now seeking funds to donate and ship bundles of the books to abortion and healthcare clinics as well as organized groups of clinic escorts across the country. Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 and distribute 1,000 books by the end of 2020.

Founded in 2012 by actresses and activists, Martha Plimpton & Kellie Overbey, A is For emerged in response to the escalating legislative attacks on access to safe, reproductive healthcare. A is For amplifies art and artists that work to end the stigma against abortion. We envision a world in which every person has access to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare free from judgement, scrutiny, and obstruction.

Our comic book and other creative initiatives - storytelling, play writing contest, engaging social media content - seek to elevate the human experience of abortion. We want to change the way people think about abortion.

One of the stories, Pink House Defenders by Michelle Colon details the experiences of escorts at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic. As Michelle poignantly writes “They call us ‘deathscorts.’ And we correct them - we are defenders, and we have our own style of protecting our patients and defending our clinic.”

Our vision of telling the stories of these “guardians of faith” has come to life, and we are so excited to share them.