Ok, so the protesters are getting really bad. Like, I would say even as bad as it was when I first started two years ago - before we started seriously going after the bubble zone, back when Crazy Legs would throw herself at cars. It's a different technique that they have now, but it's bad.
First of all, not only was the lady who dresses all in red out there, there was another one, all dressed in white! So from now on, it'll be Lady in Red and her sidekick, Monochrome. Peter Ryan was out there. The Mad Chatter had a sign that said "I regret my abortion" which was quite distressing. I just wanted to go out and say, "ok, let's talk about that". But we all know what the real intention of signs like that are. And the Mary statue was there, the statue Peter likes to cradle in his arms in a weird mother-and-child tableau I don't even want to begin to analyze.
And if that wasn't enough, Suzie Ryan was out (AFTER all the patients were in and the escorts went home), with her big stupid fetus sign that's as tall as she is. Of course, school is out so she thinks no one will call the cops. Well, we'll see.
They are just being awful, and it's not just the signs. It's screaming at the clinic manager: "How many abortions have you had??" It's saying things to the escorts. It's being just a couple steps over the line of human decency.
Right now I'm in the process of working out a support system for the escorts so they have an outlet for the frustration/discomfort of putting up with this crap. But it's a good group, and I have a couple more people starting in the next few weeks, so as always, we will prevail.
Something cool for y'all to check out: Randy McKeen calling for a bubble zone on Capital FM! (Go listen soon, because it probably will rotate off the site).
Also, NB provincial government cabinet shuffle - what does everyone think? If you get a sec, maybe shoot Mary Schryer an email and let her know how much you're looking forward to her being the new Minister for Health and working with us on improving abortion access. ;) mary.schryer@gnb.ca
Keep up the struggle, friends!
29 comments:
Forced birthers, at least the ones who will stand outside a clinic day after day, are really frightening people. Who knows what psychotic thing they'll do next.
Want me to write a transcript for the radio piece?
If the spirit moves you, friend, that would be awesome.
Pedge, who can we (that is, individuals) contact to lobby for a bubble zone?
I can any sane human being work at an abortion mill...
Hmm, the anonytrolls seem to be unable to even form a coherent sentence. Just a string of buzzwords.
I am shocked, shocked at their scintillating intelligence.
@Anonymous Seriously! How could anyone get up 5 days a week and enjoy going to job that centers around the brutal murder of innocent children? These people must be from the same school of thought as Hitler.
Heidi - you can write to the Minister for Health (Mary Schryer) and/or the Minister for Public Safety (I think it's John Foran).
Thanks! Letters away!
Anti-choicers must wake up every single day and offer up prayers of thanks that a person like Hitler once roamed the earth. What else would they rant and foam about if he'd never existed? My god, they might actually have to engage in a little bit of critical thinking!
Thanks so much for your wonderful work. Many years ago when I ran a clinic in Dallas, Texas we had a huge banner that we displayed off our balcony. It read: "At this clinic we do sacred work that honors women and the circle of life and death. When you come here bring only love." It was so powerful for us to claim our identity--and the antis didn't know WHAT to do with it!
Thank you for being an escort. I used to be one in Atlanta, but mercifully the clinic moved to private property and we were no longer needed.
I totally feel for you and the crazy, we had our fair share supplied by local religious groups and Operation Rescue.
Our favorite tho were the Bound for Life kids with the red tape over their mouths.
We liked them because they were quiet! But mostly cause they were easy to hijack.
One saturday there were about 80 of them vs our 3. They lined up and down the street with the tape over their mouths and bibles rocking back and forth praying.. so we got some poster board and made signs that said
"Silence Homophobia" and stood in front of them.
It was hilarious cause what could they do? Only half came back the next week, and we did the same thing. Finally only a few showed up regularly.
My "street name" is Kimberly Smith (not my real name) We've have some anti's try to get us fired from our jobs, so we all have "street names" now.
Psychos! Keep up the great work, pedgehog, and thank you.
I just don't understand who these people think they are. One of my closest friends had an abortion and a 10 man group (all men) standing outside the clinic with severely graphic images, and jesus quotes were threatening to follow her home.
Hi Pedgehog. I can tell you have a heart for women and I can admire that. But why don't you have any heart for innocent children? Half of these dismembered babies are female too. It's something to think about.
Some will argue that while the woman is already here, the fetus is not. But the truth is that the fetus IS here, too. S/he is just waiting to be born. She came into existence at conception just like all the women who are seeking abortions. Just like you, Pedgehog. Who you are today is who you were at conception. The only difference is life experience.
Prolifers are not crazy. They are genuinely fighting for the rights of the unborn. A preborn infant doesn't breathe air yet, but they are biologically real human beings nonetheless. Women in crisis pregnancy situations need love and care and compassion - but so do their babies.
Pedgehog, I know your heart is big enough to embrace both.
I always have a hard time taking Pro-Life people seriously because they never seem to care about actual lives - like, people that are living right now. Lives that have had a lot of love invested in them - not a potential life, the product of a one-night stand. Also, if they really cared about lives, they would be like, more anti-war. They keep saying that abortion is "slaughtering innocents" but they don't seem to give two shits about the American miltary dropping bombs on cities. Aren't dropping bombs on people "slaughtering innocents"? Why aren't they in front of the American Embassy? Maybe brown people aren't cute to them the way that babies are. It's a little like those animal activists who only want to save the cute furry ones. See - the whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. But then that's probably why I'm not that religious. Also, don't these people have jobs? Who can afford to stand outside your clinic all day in various outfits? Are they rich? Anyway, maybe next week you can go in disguise and hang out with the protesters and give us an embedded report from within their ranks. I'd be curious what the day to day conversations among them are - the logistics, you know. Like, if someone has to go to the bathroom, where do they go? They certainly don't knock on your door politely. Is there a Tim Horton's near by?
Sully said: "I always have a hard time taking Pro-Life people seriously because they never seem to care about actual lives - like, people that are living right now."
If prolife people didn't care about the women having abortion, there would be no pregnancy care centres through the U.S. and Canada. Yet there are thousands and thousands. Perhaps you only see the prolifers who do sidewalk counselling or protesting, but there are just as many other prolifers out there who are actively helping the women who are in crisis pregnancy situations. You are also overlooking the scientific fact that the fetus IS a living human being. If abortion didn't take the life of a human being, then we wouldn't oppose it.
Sully said, "They keep saying that abortion is 'slaughtering innocents' but they don't seem to give two shits about the American miltary dropping bombs on cities."
Do you have any proof of this? Many prolifers are equally anti-war. Besides, these are two separate issues. Both involve the loss of innocent life, yes, but we can't fight every cause all at one time. There isn't enough time in the day.
There are always exceptions in any case, but in general, prolifers are compassionate people who genuinely believe that abortion is the murder of a human being. They also know the life-long trauma abortion creates for women, and they work hard to help these women find healing.
Side-walk protesting is actually a small part of the what the prolife community does a whole.
Sully said, "Pro-Life people . . . never seem to care about actual lives - like . . . lives that have had a lot of love invested in them - not a potential life, the product of a one-night stand."
Are you suggesting that an illegitimate child is of less value than a legitimate child? Or that a wanted child is more valuable than an unwanted one?
A fetus is not a potential life - he/she is a human person that has already come into existence. Abortion doesn't end a potential life, it ends a real life. A sperm or an egg is a potential life.
Dear Sully .How do you know pro-life people don't give two shits about War.If Your so concerned about war, what are you doing about it?
Sully is absolutely correct. Forced birthers have, essentially, decided that women are nothing more than ambulatory gestation tanks. It's not that a single one of them is actually concerned about a fetus - they simply want to impose their will on other humans.
Anonymous said: "It's not that a single one of them is actually concerned about a fetus - they simply want to impose their will on other humans."
Again, proof? All the prolifers I know care very genuinely about both mom and baby. They volunteer their time at pregnancy care centres, they take homeless pg teenagers into their homes, giving them a place to live, they take care of foster children, they adopt!! :)
Do you seriously think prolifers just want to impose their will for no reason? What a waste of time that would be. The reason they are out their protesting is because abortion is the horrific slaughter of preborn children and should never have been made legal in a civilized society.
I love how forced birthers always trot out the same stupid arguments as if they were news to us.
"Half of these dismembered babies are female too. It's something to think about."
Gosh, thank you for introducing me to Grade 7 biology! I never heard of that before. I'll tell you what, how about doctors start testing for Barr bodies every time a woman seeks an abortion and then only perform the abortion when the embryo is male -- would that make you feel better?
It wouldn't? Golly gee. I'm calling red herring.
"If prolife people didn't care about the women having abortion, there would be no pregnancy care centres through the U.S. and Canada. Yet there are thousands and thousands."
The majority of these exist solely to lecture and mislead women to prevent them from having abortions, after which they provide virtually nothing to those women: no medical care, little financial support, no birth control information to help those women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the future, nothing but a bag of diapers and a pat on the head.
"Do you seriously think prolifers just want to impose their will for no reason? What a waste of time that would be."
No, there are reasons, but they're pretty much all misogynistic. And yes, it is a waste of time.
Well said, killjoy. While I respect (and totally disagree with) anti-abortionists' beliefs, I have huge problems with the kinds of arguments Bekah Ferguson is making. Her blanket statements, such as that abortions create "life-long trauma" for women, that pro-choicers should have epiphanies when realizing that many fetuses are female, and that science somehow proves humans are fully formed at the single-cell stage, are misleading and typical of the information yelled at women entering abortion clinics. Also, the suggestion that anti-abortionists can provide adequate counselling for pregnant women ignores the fact that you cannot appropriately counsel or advise someone when you have an agenda - to convince that person to give birth no matter what.
I'd also like to say how great it is to read the comments thanking escorts - it's really good to know that what we do is appreciated.
http://www.tv.com/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia/charlie-wants-an-abortion/episode/455283/summary.html
You should find and watch this episode. I found it a hilarious depiction of the anti-choicers. It's no where NEAR G-rated though. Funny :)
Anonymous 6/26: You sound like a LOLCat. I can haz abortion mill?
asCoolasKimDeal: Awesome name.
Killjoy, Anonymous, and others: I've been volunteering at a Christian pregnancy care centre for 2.5 years now and we do shame women into keeping their babies. We have very strict rules about what we can/can not say. For example, we would never call abortion murder to a client! If a client is leaning toward abortion, we simply give her information on fetal development with ultrasound photographs. It's about knowledge and making an *informed* choice. I've read too many testimonies of women who regret their choice to abort because they didn't learn about fetal development until afterwards. Our ministry is helping women and our agenda is to provide objective information, not to save babies at the expense of the women. Only they can decide whether or not to give life. And if they do chose life, we provide them with financial assistance, housing, clothing, schooling - or whatever it is they need.
Noticed a typo in my above post: I meant to say "we do *NOT* shame women into keeping their babies."
Oh, BEKAH. That was no typo. That was the only true statement you've made in this entire thread.
He, I love how you say 'Anti-Choice' it is Pro-Life buddy. Which makes the other side, Anti-Life or if you decide to use Pro, Pro-Death...
Up to now, you weren't fighting. People didn't even realize what was going on. People always thought the child was just a lump of tissues. Not real, just there.
I believe in Choice 100%! The woman has the choice not to become pregnant. Once that happens there are two people, What choice do you think the baby would choose?
And even further, What ever happened to choice? Now if a woman is diagnosed pregnant, the doctor MUST (NO CHOICE!!!) tell her about an abortion.
So in reality, YOU are the 'Anti-Choicers' and we are simply standing up for the ones who you don't give a choice. The unheard. We are standing up...
FOR LIFE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CaBR3z85c
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