Olympia Community Defends Planned Parenthood
A regular community breakfast has defended Planned Parenthood against right-wing aggression for years and it's still going strong
by: Madison Nadine
During the last decade, there have been intermittent protests and clinic defense for patients entering and exiting the Planned Parenthood on the corner of Legion and Adams in downtown Olympia. The protests have historically countered the presence of forced birthers who attempt to invoke fear, shame, and harass patients entering the clinic. Forced birthers are against abortion in all circumstances. They are a splinter of the national pro-life movement that has been mobilizing for decades to abolish and criminalize access to abortion legally in the United States.
In response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, concerned community members sought to create a recurring third space on the sidewalk outside the clinic and build community. This space has been habitually gathering once a week since June 2022 to serve a free hot breakfast for all. The space is called the Anti-Fascist Community Alternative Breakfast, also known as ACAB Breakfast. It is in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups, and individuals.
Since the lively inception of ACAB Breakfast, it has confronted forced birthers on the ground once per week. Less than a year into the project, the forced birthers stopped showing up. One of the goals of this protest is to take action against a capitalist culture and economic system that alienates people from their community and makes it a requirement to spend money to be in public. ACAB Breakfast includes a wide range of activities, from directly confronting patient harassment by forced birthers, to gathering food and clothing, to sign waiving, playing music, and providing first aid and harm reduction supplies.
Rain or shine, forced birthers or not, ACAB Breakfast has sought to continue protesting our consumer culture while supplying free breakfast; meanwhile, joyfully celebrating bodily autonomy and solidarity with patients and clinicians, entering and exiting the clinic. Now and then, patients have sought help in finding the Planned Parenthood entrance or ask for support to go inside. Socializing with the community passing by has been a critical tactic in successfully protesting our cruel circumstances. Having fun and being welcoming while striving for a more humane approach to access to food, access to public space, and access to healthcare have made ACAB Breakfast a place people show up to connect and resist.
Continuing throughout 2023 to 2024, there was an absence of any reactionary presence or forced birthers protesting in any organized capacity outside of Planned Parenthood. Forced birthers began appearing again consistently in January of 2025, now with a larger influx of participants. As their numbers have been rising, so has their blatant fascist rhetoric: from Christian nationalists revising American history to people aggressively misgendering trans individuals, to the brazen endorsement of spewing the great replacement conspiracy claims. Pastors have also started showing up more frequently, bringing anti-abortion crowds with them. The demand to protest this attack on bodily autonomy has increased.
Anti Fascist Community Alternative Breakfast is currently setting up free breakfast and clinic defense every Saturday, 9 am to 12 pm, on the corner of Legion and Adams. Come and join us!