NAPLES, Fla. — An online petition calling for an abortion ban sparks a protest in Naples.
A group called the Southwest Florida Red Coats stood out outside the collier county courthouse hoping city officials don't give in to petitioners' requests.
The petition asks local lawmakers to make Naples a sanctuary city or a safe haven for unborn children. It is garnering a lot of attention online receiving more than 1000 of the needed 1500 signatures.
"It definitely makes me nervous," says Lacey Hickey, spokesperson for the SWFL Red Coats. "I didn’t actually realize sanctuary cities for abortion were a thing up until a few months ago I started doing research and I was like 'Oh, this is happening!'"
Hickey believes that the decision to have or to not have a baby shouldn't be determined by laws. She is worried that petitions like this, if successful, will make it harder for women to visit the only place in the city where women can receive safe abortions.
"That's the scary thing. We only have one clinic in the first place and that one is under stress almost all the time because there are people there protesting making it uncomfortable," says Hickey.
Counter-protestors approached the group, but they did not let them distract from their mission.
"We can start getting more education about what abortion really is and what kind of care we can give, to either avoid that or make it easier so that it doesn’t have to happen so often but education is really the key," says Hickey.
