Bombing a Fertility Clinic Won’t Stop Women from Needing or Seeking Reproductive Care — Whether It’s IVF or Abortion

A terrorist attack won’t shake our determination. Women will not be silenced, stopped, or scared away from the care they need to survive, to heal, to create life, or to live freely.

The bombing outside the American Reproductive Centers (ARC) in Palm Springs on May 17 was meant to terrorize. It was meant to scare us into silence. But women are not so easily broken.

The attack, which took the life of the suspected bomber and injured four others, rattled the nation. Not because we’ve never seen this kind of violence before—but because we have. Over and over again. Whether it’s abortion clinics being firebombed, doctors being assassinated, or now fertility centers being targeted, the message behind these acts is always the same: stay home, be quiet, and stop trying to control your body or your future.

But we won’t.

Women across this country—mothers, daughters, sisters, survivors—are standing up in the face of fear. We are refusing to be intimidated. We are refusing to abandon the pursuit of the care we need, deserve, and have every right to receive.

This bombing didn’t weaken us. It awakened us.

They Targeted a Fertility Clinic. That Tells You Everything.

Let’s be clear: ARC doesn’t provide abortions. It helps people get pregnant, often after months or years of heartbreak, infertility, and loss. It’s where patients go to start families, to freeze eggs before chemotherapy, to try again after miscarriages. It’s a place of hope.

And still, it was bombed.

That alone should end the lie that only abortion providers are at risk. That somehow there’s a “safe” kind of reproductive health clinic that won’t draw the ire of extremists. That false safety has now exploded—literally.

Because this was never just about abortion.

This is about control. About punishing women who dare to make decisions—any decisions—about their bodies and futures. Whether you’re ending a pregnancy or creating one, the message from these acts of terror is: we want power over you.

But here's the truth: they can't bomb into dust: we will never give it to them.

To Every Woman Who Is Scared Right Now—We See You

You might be feeling shaken. You might be wondering if it’s worth it to keep your appointment, to go to that clinic, to start IVF, to get that abortion pill, to take one more step toward the life you want.

Let us say this with all the strength we have: Yes, it is worth it. And no, you are not alone.

Thousands of women across the country are walking into clinics this week. Some to finally begin fertility treatment after years of waiting. Some to seek abortions they never thought they’d need. Some to freeze eggs for a future they’re still imagining.

And some—like Maria Alvarez—are doing so just one day after a bomb went off outside the building.

“I thought about rescheduling,” Maria told us. “But then I thought about how hard I’ve fought to get here. I’m not letting fear win.”

Maria’s embryo transfer went ahead as scheduled, just 24 hours after the attack. And in doing so, she did more than continue her journey to motherhood—she reminded us all what resilience looks like.

Women Have Been Here Before. We Know How to Survive.

For decades, women have sought reproductive care under threat. They’ve navigated angry protesters, stalkers, politicians, and prosecutors. They’ve flown across states, risked arrest, paid in secret, asked strangers for rides, walked past screaming crowds—and still, they showed up.

They are still showing up.

• In 1998, a clinic was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

• In 2009, Dr. George Tiller was shot dead in his church for providing abortions.

• In 2022, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, women lined up for hours at clinics in border states to get care they could no longer access at home.

And now, in 2025, we watch as a fertility center is bombed—and still, the patients come.

• Still, the doctors stay.

• Still, the community rebuilds.

No terrorist, no ideology, no judge, no law can stop what generations of women have already proven: when we decide to fight for our bodies and our lives, we do not back down.

Let This Be Our Line in the Sand

If someone is willing to bomb a clinic that helps women become mothers, they are not pro-life. They are not defenders of children. They are not spiritual warriors. They are terrorists trying to scare women into submission.

They want you to think you’re alone. That no one will come for you. That you’ll be too scared to show up next time.

But we’re not going anywhere.

Every time someone walks into a reproductive health center—whether for IVF, an IUD, an abortion, a cancer screening, or a mammogram—they send a message: I have a right to this care, and I claim it.

Let the bombing remind us of what’s at stake—but also what’s possible. Because if the goal was to make us smaller, quieter, and easier to defeat, it failed.

Instead, it lit a fire.

We Are More Than Survivors. We Are Builders.

Within 72 hours of the Palm Springs bombing, the clinic reopened. They checked their cryopreserved embryos. They called their patients. They showed up. Not because they weren’t afraid, but because courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s choosing to act anyway.

And across the country, women are taking action too.

Some are donating to keep clinics open. Some are volunteering as patient escorts. Some are running for office to write laws that protect rather than punish. Some are telling their stories so no one has to feel ashamed.

• These acts matter.

• These voices matter.

• You matter.

And if you’ve been thinking of giving up—on trying again, on starting treatment, on speaking out—let us be your reminder: don’t.

• Your story is still being written.

• And the ending is not theirs to decide.

• Your Body. Your Future. Your Fire.

There is a war on women’s autonomy in this country. But every war has a resistance—and this one is led by women who refuse to be silenced.

To the woman fighting to get insurance to cover her IVF. To the teen taking a bus alone across state lines for abortion care. To the mom seeking her third round of chemo and needing to preserve her fertility. To the doctor keeping her clinic doors open after threats. To the nurse holding someone’s hand before a procedure. To the receptionist answering calls through tears and fear.

• We see you.

• And we promise: you are not doing this alone.

• No Bomb Will Break Us.

To the bomber who tried to terrorize us into stillness:

• You failed.

• We are not still.

• We are not small.

• We are not stepping back.

You cannot bomb away the right to reproductive care. You cannot destroy a woman’s will to choose her own path. You cannot intimidate the fire out of a generation that has already walked through it and survived.

We are still building families. Still ending pregnancies that are unsafe or unwanted. Still freezing eggs. Still delivering babies. Still starting over. Still showing up.

You cannot stop what’s already in motion. You cannot destroy what we’ve already decided we deserve.

Let This Be a Rallying Cry

This moment is not the end. It’s an inflection point.

• Let this attack be the final reminder that we cannot sit quietly and hope it gets better.

• Let it move us to protect each other, vote for each other, fund each other, stand with each other.

• Let it move you to keep your appointment. To ask your questions. To demand better care. To dream bigger.

• Let it move you to believe—radically, fiercely—that your body belongs to you, and your choices are your own, and you are allowed to fight for joy, for motherhood, for freedom, for healing, for anything and everything your heart desires.

• Let it move you to love yourself so loudly that no one ever dares to silence you again.

You are not alone. You are not afraid. You are not finished.

And no bomb—no matter how loud—can change that.

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Stand With Women. Stand With Care.

This is the moment to choose courage over comfort.

The women seeking care right now are not just patients — they are fighters. And the clinics offering that care are not just buildings — they are sanctuaries. They deserve protection. They deserve support. They deserve us.

If you believe in a world where women have the freedom to decide their future — whether through IVF, abortion, or any form of reproductive care — then stand with us today.

👉 Support our work to protect clinics, amplify women’s voices, and expand access to essential care.

💥 Take advantage of our 50% discount and upgrade to our annual plan today — and fuel the resistance that says no to violence, no to fear, and YES to every woman’s right to choose.

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Because no bomb, no court, no extremist will ever be stronger than a community that stands together.

We are not backing down. And with your help, we never will.