In a viral TikTok posted this week, an aggressive white woman was shown running up to an abortion clinic escort, and then calling the police and claim to be harassed herself.
The video, which now has over 2 million views, was posted by Riley Jo O’Brien (@rileyjoobrien), a creator with over 35,600 followers on TikTok. O’Brien is a volunteer for Gamp Camp, an abortion rights organization that assigns volunteer escorts to protect people visiting reproductive health clinics from getting harassed by anti-abortion protesters.
The video shows a hostile woman, dubbed a “Karen” in the TikTok comments, making kissing noises and running up to O’Brien. O’Brien says she is an anti-abortion activist.
The woman then sees O’Brien filming, and claims that she is the one being harassed, and proceeds to apparently call the police on O’Brien.
“Are you harassing me?…You can’t film me…I will call the police!” the woman said in the video.
“The officers have asked us to get the information of aggressive protesters, and since you ran up on me, and I thought you were about to spit on me, I’m just going to make sure that we get your information,” O’Brien responded.
“Watch how fast this forced birth activist goes from aggressor to victim,” O’Brien captioned the video.
Users in the comments section of the viral TikTok were enraged at the Karen for her alleged hypocrisy.
“How are they gonna be in everyone’s business but be cry babies when someone does the same to them?” one user commented.
“‘Are you harassing me?!’ The IRONY of these people,” another responded.
“‘You’re frightening me’ ummm you’re harassing women who require a medical procedure,” a third replied.
People who seek healthcare from clinics that provide abortions are often met with intimidation and violence. With anti-abortion sentiments being emboldened by recent abortion bans in 2021, cases of death threats, harassment, and assault have been on the rise, according to a report by the National Abortion Federation.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in the United States prohibits intimidation or physical obstruction near reproductive healthcare clinics. However, the United States has not nationally banned anti-abortion protests within a certain radius of clinics.
Only Colorado, Montana, and Massachusetts have passed state-wide “buffer zone” legislation banning protests near abortion clinics. In other countries, like Canada, buffer zones have been implemented to ban protests within a 50-meter radius of clinics. In Australia, “safe access zones” have been implemented within 150 meters of clinics.
The Daily Dot reached out to Riley Jo O’Brien and Gamp Camp for comment via email.
Editor’s note: This viral TikTok was reported on twice by Daily Dot staff this week. We regret the oversight.
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