The Sonic Politics of the US Abortion Wars

Abstract

On a rainy Saturday in May 2018, I visited an independent abortion clinic in the Southeast.1 Known as a “destination clinic” within the antiabortion movement, this abortion clinic gets bombarded by the sounds of hundreds of antiabortion protesters from multiple protest groups every weekend. In this city, a local noise ordinance permits amplified sound up to 75 decibels starting at 8:00 a.m., as long as the assembled faction applies for a sound permit up to a week before. According to volunteers and a clinic administrator, every week protesters from the same prayer ministries successfully apply for the permit. On Saturday mornings the protesters assemble on the sidewalk, road, and grassy area across the street from the clinic. As patients drive up the winding road toward the clinic, they become confused by the obstacle course they must navigate. The road is lined with groups of shouting protesters, police cars, and RVs offering “crisis pregnancy” care and free pregnancy tests. Individual protesters sometimes run out in front of the approaching vehicles, waving their hands and shouting, “No!,” “Stop!,” and “Don’t go in there!” When I visited, the first wave of protesters arrived and started setting up before the clinic opened at 7:30 a.m. A handful of protesters, the majority of whom were white men, gathered on the sidewalk under a