Help Keep An Independent Florida Abortion Clinic Open with

WINNIE FROM SWAN

0:05:20 - Danielle Bezalel

Hello Winnie, welcome to the podcast. We're finally doing an abortion clinic escort episode, which we've been wanting to do for a long while. It felt like Kismet that I saw Swan's TikToks on our 4U page and we're going to get into that later, because you all are very popular. I'm not the only one who gets your TikToks on their 4U page, but I've been laughing and in awe of what you all have been doing for many, many months now, so I'm super, super stoked to have you on the show and talk more about your work. So thank you for being here. 

0:05:23 - Winnie

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me and thank you for inflating your head. A little bit about TikTok. 

0:05:30 - Danielle Bezalel

It's not even you know. It's not no fakeness with that, it's all truth. But why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us about your work as an abortion clinic escort? 

0:05:42 - Winnie

Yeah, so I am, my name is Winnie and I am an escort and I have been for a little bit over a year at the only independent abortion clinic here in Orlando, Florida, and mainly our work is to walk patients to and from the inside of abortion clinics and then back to their vehicle. 

But we've kind of taken a little bit of a different strategy. I think a lot of people when they think of abortion clinic escorts, they think of Planned Parenthood and how you're not allowed to engage and you just kind of hold your umbrella and you take patients and you hang your head. But I think that our take on it has been a little bit different. We've kind of thrown respectability politics out the door and if you're there to make people uncomfortable, we're there to make you uncomfortable, and so we've been lucky enough to have a lot of escorts on the ground and so we can have patient forward escorts that work with the patients and provide snacks and drinks and getting them to and from their vehicles, and then we have escorts that film and kind of platform these anti abortion protesters that are in their community, and it's been a unique ride. 

0:06:59 - Danielle Bezalel

I'll say I mean just even watching it. I think you know I won't spoil it for you listener, what's actually your TikTok handle? We can just say that right off the bat so people can pause this episode and go watch a few. 

0:07:11 - Winnie

Yeah, so the main TikTok is Swan of Central FLA and then our backup TikTok, which still has over 100,000 followers. It's doing pretty good for a backup is Swan of Orlando. 

0:07:23 - Danielle Bezalel

Yeah, so okay. So go pause this episode and watch two of those, because these are such funny videos and, of course, right like and you're in these comments right Like, some people are kind of like why are you talking to these anti's, why are you entertaining them? And you all, just like you know, clap back and you're kind of like, well, if they're going to kind of like fuck with people, then we're going to fuck with them back and we're going to do TikTok dances and be like really, really obnoxious, because they're doing the same thing and they're harassing people and they're, you know, I think like there's this one woman, beth, I'm sure she's very famous and people talk about her all the time. 

She's a very gauntly white, blonde woman who is essentially all over your page because you know she's a Christian woman. She's an anti-abortion person who consistently is harassing people and I think, like the way in which you engage her and other people is so fucking funny to me and you're just so in their face, you're like you know, being like real, just just. There's no chance that these people have like you're just not giving it to them and like flashing kind of like LGBTQ flags in their face, like making fun of them. It's very much like the Drew Afualo kind of response, I feel, where she doesn't give anybody shit, right, and like I mean, since we're already talking about it, like let's talk about your social media. You again on the main page. You didn't even say this. You have over 360,000 followers on your main account. 

And you have that's wild, that's like an insane. That's just a wild amount, right. And then you have over a hundred thousand followers on your backup account. Okay, like how did? How did you go viral? Like how's this been your process for a long time? And like, how have you been using social media as a tool to get your voices heard? 

0:09:17 - Winnie

So, um, our group really formed like last June and we didn't really get on one year ago yeah, wow, yeah. And we didn't even really get on social media until September as far as like an official group social media and our goal was to hit a thousand followers so we could go live, so we could have like engagement with other clinic escorts and kind of just kind of be in that sphere of like gaining live content and stuff so people could feel like they're at the clinic with us. Because I think that a large part of what we do and our success is the fact that people wish that they could say these things to these anti-abortion protesters and they wish that they could do this and they see people kind of finding a sort of confidence and we're kind of bold about it. And I just don't think that right now is a good time to be quiet. I think that the time for being polite is kind of over and people have really resonated with that message and it just kind of took off. 

And I think the first video that we ever did, that hit a million, was one where one of the anti-abortion advocates was screaming why didn't your mom and dad kill you? And one of us, one of our swans, said I wish that they did ma'am and that hit millions pretty quickly and just kind of that. I guess authenticity is like it. It just looks like regular kind of scrappy people doing this and I think it kind of emboldened people and made them feel like they could do it. 

0:11:10 - Danielle Bezalel

Totally yeah. And just like you know you like the I got one margarita, i'mma open my legs, like that song, I'm just like doing that, like in a line, like around these anti-abortion protesters, like that shit is so funny. And like the, and I think you're exactly right, I think you hit the nail on the head, which is people wish they can be there with you, and that's so evident with how much money that you have raised in this short amount of time. Let's talk about the campaign for a second, because that's really why I wanted you here was to really talk through. 

You know, and if you're listening to this listener and you have an extra five dollars that you are going to spend on something silly or something that you wanted, consider donating, because I donated a hundred dollars the other day because I think, yeah, I think this work is so important and work, who's gonna give if not people who really care about sex ed and who really care about abortion rights and advocacy? And so you know that's my, my premise to you listeners. Like I have an expectation that you're going to donate today. This is like tough love, like if you have five dollars or more, donate it. And so that's my, that's my spiel, but I want to hear Winnie a little bit about, kind of like, the current climate for abortion rights in Florida, specifically like what is the current campaign you're working on and where can people help and donate. 

0:12:37 - Winnie

Sure. So let's start with the current climate, just so we can kind of frame what's going on. So currently, Florida is considered a safe haven state, meaning that we are kind of the abortion access state for our state and the surrounding states. Georgia has a six-week ban, Alabama is a total ban, tennessee is a total ban, texas, louisiana, mississippi you know all across is a total ban. We see states from all over the place. Orlando is a pretty easy and cheaper airport to fly into and out clinic offers next day abortion services so you could get a flight like Friday night or, and you know, see a doctor Saturday morning, and so that that's absolutely it's very necessary and, with that in mind, it's important to keep clinics like ours open and our state has unjustly fined our clinic $193,000. 

It was a very unclear thing, if I could talk a little bit about what happened and what those fines are. So back in 2015 the 24-hour law went into effect and or it was passed, but it was immediately halted and it'd been kind of hung up in courts for a long time. And then about a year or two ago in the middle of the night it got unholed and there wasn't a big news announcement. There wasn't a lot of information about it and our clinic didn't know and they continued to do abortions same day, meaning the 24-hour law is you have to have a consultation and then 24 hours later meet with a doctor for your actual procedure. It's right-wing nonsense to ensure that, one, it's more expensive to travel and, two, they frame it as like time to think about it and time to really go over your options, but really it's to make it more inaccessible. You have to have more days off of work. It makes it harder to travel, more hotel stays, but yes, so for 12 days our clinic performed 193 abortions and the maximum fine per infraction, I guess, is $1,000. 

And the judge said that our clinic had credible evidence saying that they didn't know and they suggested that we are fined $350 per abortion. And they said, no, we're not going to listen to the judge, we are going to do the maximum fine and we are going to bankrupt this clinic. And that's exactly what they're doing. And so our clinic now is faced with the absolute maximum possibility to be faced with this, and we had never raised more money than like a thousand at a time. We are sponsored by a non-profit, but we're just kind of a scrappy group and we're only focused on one clinic. 

0:15:56 - Danielle Bezalel

I need you to pause. You've never raised more than $1,000 at a time, and you already raised. What's the number right now? 

0:16:05 - Winnie

Like $150,000 or $150,000. Oh my god. 

0:16:09 - Danielle Bezalel

Does that feel like the best thing ever, or what? 

0:16:14 - Winnie

It's. This sounds so weird and you're not going to believe me, but I think that you know, when we were emailing each other, we were talking a little bit about revolutionary optimism and I think it'll be a good point to kind of jump into that in a second. 

But we had never raised more than a thousand in like a single time period and we had just, you know, been paying for people's abortions here and there. If a patient comes out and they said that they can't afford it, then we would just go live, raise a little bit of cash and then pay for it, no big deal whatever. And some of my comrades in our organizing team were talking about this fine, and we were like we have to raise this money. And there were a few people that were like I don't know if we can, but most of us just kind of felt in our gut that I think we can do this. We're only focused in one clinic and we've never raised this amount before. But we feel like people are kind of really dedicated because they feel like they're part of this too, and that's one thing that we've been really trying to do. We're kind of adamant about that, that, like we, we're all in this struggle together. It's not just this clinic in Orlando, it's no more closed clinics and we're all kind of in this together. 

And we were hoping that that would resonate with people and it really did. And the first day we raised like $29,000. And I had a house representative call me on my personal phone number and it was just so strange. And then, like I don't know if you know who Jessica Valenti is, but she's an author. So like she wrote about our clinic and then we were like hey, that's actually our clinic. And then she wrote about us and her newsletter and stuff and she wrote about us on Twitter. And I think after Jessica Valenti wrote about us on Twitter, it just blew up. 

And I was like, oh, my gosh, but that, that was so exciting, it was like a whirlwind. 

0:18:26 - Danielle Bezalel

Wow, that is so impressive. I mean, I think you all are very talented at what you do, right, like, at the end of the day, you are not only helping people but you are making comedy out of it in this hard thing that a lot of people are dealing with. And it feels very easy, at least in my position, to feel very sad and downtrodden about the bullshit that right-wing Republicans are spewing constantly through our laws, through news, through just hateful rhetoric, and you all are really flipping it on its head. I mean, I think this whole thing is proof that people do care about abortion. They do care about people's rights, they do care about bodily autonomy and they will put their money where their mouths are. I think that's a really, really big thing. 

0:22:41 - Winnie

Yeah, a lot of people give a shit and that matters so much. And just like talking about the people that give a shit and you said, oh, if you have five bucks like when you hear a big number like $193,000, you think your five bucks doesn't get very far. But this is like a working class movement, like we have a lot of donations. Like over 4,000 people have donated to this and I think the average donation is less than 40 bucks. This is just a bunch of little people together. And I wanted to hit again. 

You had mentioned like, oh, everyone is kind of sad about abortion, either that, or they were sad a year ago and they're just kind of tired of being sad, so it kind of numbs out. 

But I think that we've taken a lot of like pointers from revolutionary movements and we don't want to be sad about our losses. I mean, of course, we can't help but to mourn over the loss of our rights, but we have to have this optimism that we are going to make change, like we have to continuously set goals and continuously work to meet these goals. And that's this optimism and this energy I think is really what's setting aside like the swan account from maybe some other different things in abortion, because everyone is tired of being sad and we're not going to be sad. Yes, we're right now. Florida has a six week ban hanging over our heads. We couldn't realistically lose abortion access in the next like two months, but we're going to win this clinic and after we win this clinic, we're going to focus on the ballot initiative and we're going to work to win that too, and we just we can't stop and be sad for a second. We have to keep going. 

0:24:34 - Danielle Bezalel

Yes, and keep laughing and keep laughing at these ding dong like right wing Christians who are just spouting absolute religious bullshit and nonsense. 

And you do it in such a great way and I just love you all. Like, come up on me they like Tik Tok knows that I'll watch the whole thing and they know that I'll like it. So I feel like every other video is a swan video and I think they're so funny and they're so smart and, yeah, it makes sense to me that you're very close to hitting your goal. But, of course, but for folks listening who do want to donate, let's shout out you know some important things that they can do and people have social media profiles, right. So, maybe, in addition to donating, like you send this episode to two of your friends and say, hey, I heard this amazing sex ad with a DB episode with an abortion clinic escort from swan supporting the center of Orlando for women, and that's your way of contributing. Like that's a really good way of contributing. So, winnie, why don't you go ahead and share with people, where they can learn more, where they can donate, what they can share? 

0:25:43 - Winnie

Yeah, so if you're not good at typing in links, then you can just go to our Instagram or our TikTok. We have a link tree in both and our Instagram is swan of central FLA and our TikTok is the exact same thing. But if you are good at taking down links, it's a really simple one. 

0:25:59 - Danielle Bezalel

It is give buttercom forward, slash, save o w c Amazing and I guess like if you could leave folks with something about this work and about what it's like to either you know like be an abortion clinic escort and work with these folks or kind of, on a daily basis, interact with these anti-abortion protesters. What's something that you would say to them? 

0:26:28 - Winnie

Okay, I have a couple of tips. I guess one is that anyone can do it. It is a little bit of a learning curve and you have to build this confidence. You see people kind of going back and forth with these anti's and it feels like unrealistic, I can never do that or they're so intimidating. Same for all of us, but it is a learning curve. 

But you can do it and focus on our clinic and look at our clinic and our wins and see if there's an independent clinic in your community that needs help, even if you're in a bad state. A lot of your independent clinics have expanded their services and are just holding out hope that one day they can resume services, see if they need any assistance. But also, as far as a good tip for being an escort, effective engagement. If you go and you scream and you start a screaming match for patients, it looks like everyone's screaming and everyone's yelling and it's scary. Effective engagement doesn't always have to be an abortion debate. Actually, sometimes it's better if it isn't. If you can find a topic that they'll run with and you can get them hooked on talking to you, you're way more effective than any screaming match. 

0:27:49 - Danielle Bezalel

That is a good tip. Yeah, some of the videos that I've seen, oh my god. I saw this hilarious one today where, like Beth the gaunt woman don't forget, listener, who is there all the time I presume she brought a friend and the friend was kind of like popping off about something and whoever was doing the video is like that, is that your girl, like I, did you bring? 

Yeah, you're like, yeah, you're like, is that your friend? Is that your girl? She's like, yeah, she's not prepared for this. Like it's just, it's straight up, like a curb your enthusiasm episode. Like I feel like this is my god. They have so much fodder. I feel they're true. 

0:28:30 - Winnie

They don't expect this type of engagement and I'm not saying we're the only clinic that does it, if I can really shout out. 

South Carolina just lost A majority of their abortion rights and we're really good comrades with the clinic escorts, the upstate clinic defenders, and they have similar engagement, tactics and and these anti abortion protesters are not prepared for clinics like these they can't handle it and they're used to plan parent hoods and when they get here, I think I don't know if you watch all of the best videos and there's one that I really love when I'm filming and another clinic escort is kind of sitting in the foreground and and singing and Beth is like praying or something and she's like I leave this place emotionally exhausted and I'm like good, good yeah, like that, please leave. 

0:29:28 - Danielle Bezalel

Like, let these people do what? 

They want to do it. Yeah, that's that. I will continue to support you. I'm so excited and happy that you were on the Podcast. Folks, remember to check out swans. If you go to swan of central FLA on Instagram and tick tock, you'll find those donation links and again, I am expecting that you will donate. Okay, this is not, you know, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Everyone has a spare dollar that they can share. Five, ten, match me, match me hundred dollars and send me a screenshot. At sex, I would be a gmail dot com and I will shout you out in a future episode. So thank you so much. 

0:30:08 - Winnie

if you have a hundred ninety three thousand Please go ahead and check for one ninety three K. 

0:30:14 - Danielle Bezalel

That would be perfect when it has been an absolute pleasure chatting with you. Thank you so much for being here and I'm so excited to continue to support your cause. 

0:30:25 - Winnie

I really appreciate this. Thank you so much.