We are encouraging all who read and stand with NYC for Abortion Rights and reproductive care patients in NYC to share this sign on form. The letter for organizations, groups, and electeds to sign onto is below.  The petition for individuals can be found here. This letter and form are being managed by NYC for Abortion Rights. The letter and signatories will be updated at this link.

To get involved with the campaign beyond signing on to this letter, please email us at nyc4abortionrights@gmail.com, or DM us on Instagram.

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We are writing to demand that St. Patrick's Old Cathedral cease hosting the anti-abortion group Witness for Life and cut all ties to the group.

Every month, St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Mott Street hosts a congregation of far-right, anti-abortion demonstrators called Witness for Life who march to Planned Parenthood’s Bleecker Street location to harass, shame, and intimidate patients and providers. These demonstrators swarm patients from the subway or from their cars right up to the clinic doors. They bang on the clinic windows, shout at patients, cluster outside the clinic entrance, pretend to be volunteer escorts with the clinic, and even follow patients as they leave from their appointments.

Witness for Life has openly expressed its aims to end abortion not only in New York City, but nationwide. The group includes individuals from Red Rose Rescue, such as Christopher “Fidelis” Moscinski and Joan Andrews Bell, who have blockaded and trespassed into abortion clinics around the country. Despite multiple arrests for these activities, these anti-abortion demonstrators continue to show up to harass abortion patients in our city.

It’s no wonder they remain undeterred, considering that the NYPD’s notoriously violent Strategic Response Group provides a dedicated armed escort to protect these anti-abortion bigots. In April 2023, the SRG began barricading two entire blocks of public sidewalk for Witness for Life, actively facilitating the harassment of abortion patients in a city that Mayor Eric Adams assures us will continue to be a safe haven for reproductive rights in the wake of Dobbs. The NYPD has made it clear that they will prioritize the Archdiocese of NY’s anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ agenda at the expense of our rights.

Witness for Life not only negatively impacts patients, but it also has repercussions on the SoHo neighborhood. Because of Witness for Life, St Patrick’s Old Cathedral has also had to host white nationalists and members of the far-right American Nationalist Initiative (ANI), which pose a threat to anyone in the local community, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people. Moreover, Witness for Life is bad for local business and tourism: on the first Saturday of every month, the NYPD forbids parking on Mott Street and barricades two entire blocks, inhibiting access to shops and restaurants, causing visual pollution, and restricting sidewalk ramp access for people with disabilities.

The SoHo community is overwhelmingly pro-abortion and rejects Witness for Life. New York City has spoken: St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral must stop acting as a hub for anti-abortion organizing. It’s time for Witness for Life to pack its bags.

We demand:

1. St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral cease hosting Witness for Life.

2. St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral publicly disavow Witness for Life and cut all ties with the group.