I looked at the digital clock on the dashboard. I asked Elise if she knew the frequency of the local NPR station. She told me to hit preset 2 on the radio.

‘The news should be on any moment now,’ she said.

I explained about Todor being interviewed by NPR, his about-face on violent anti-abortion protests and that I was now wondering just how much he knew about Kelleher and Amber.

Elise thought this through, her lips tightening. Then said:

‘I’d prefer imagining that a man of God would not cover up for a monster like Kelleher. But that’s also wishful thinking.’

I hit preset 2. An educated voice came on the air, telling us that we were listening to All Things Considered from NPR. I was too preoccupied to take in the top stories, but suddenly gave the broadcast my full attention when they began a report on recent aggressive demonstrations outside abortion facilities in the Los Angeles area. The head of the clinic where we tried to bring that angry, frightened woman yesterday was interviewed. She talked about how ‘these alleged pro-life extremists are showing themselves to be unethical and ruthless when it comes to ignoring the central legal rights of other women to terminate a pregnancy. They are flying in the face of established laws. They are flying in the face of separation of church and state. Most of all they are flying in the face of basic human decency and a woman’s absolute reproductive choices.’

Then Teresa came on, introducing herself as ‘the most militant of our militant group. We will stop at nothing when it comes to defending the rights of the unborn child and eventually seeing the end of Roe v Wade and the closure of every abortion death factory in the country. How dare the abortionists act as if they have the moral upper hand by protecting women who, having become pregnant, must accept responsibility for the fact that they are carrying a human life in their uterus, and by “terminating” that life – to use their sanitized term – they are committing an act of homicide. Anyone who doesn’t believe this is complicit in the murder of the unborn. As to their comment that we are violating their human rights – we are not attacking them physically. We are not threatening them with physical violence –’

The journalist cut her off, stating that yesterday her group did attack the car of an Uber driver bringing a woman to the clinic and – according to a cameraman on the scene – causing this woman to fall to the floor of the back of the vehicle, completely traumatized by this assault. Teresa remained cool and as hard as concrete.

‘Is banging on the roof of a car such a terrible thing when a human life is at stake?’

Next to me Elise let out a sigh.