Look for the Giant Highlighter

Whew, the comments around here have been a little out of conTROLL lately (haha, see what I did there?). What fun!

Clinic is still chugging along. We had our end of year party for the clinic escorts on Friday, and as far as I know, a good time was had by all. It's really important for us to get together and let the volunteers know how important they are and what a difference they make in the lives of patients and clinic staff. THANK YOU!!

One exciting thing that we are looking forward to is a change in uniform for our escorts. We normally have blue pinneys with "clinic escort" written on them in white lettering. These are pretty distinctive but what SL and I have been finding lately is that the volunteers aren't as visible as we'd like them to be. When you're a patient, especially when you're coming to the clinic for the first time, it can be a bit overwhelming to drive/walk up and see a sea of people with protest signs, so we really want the volunteers to be super visible. What we've decided on is highlighter-yellow, paramedic-style safety vests. We're trying them out for the first time this week, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but in the last couple weeks Pink Hat has been back in her pink beret! It's very exciting to see her living up to her nickname once again, especially since we've had a very mild November. The protesters have definitely been stepping it up in general in the last couple weeks. Holy water is flying all over the place, some big signs have come out (including old favourites like the one with the cross made out of fake flowers), and there's been some verbal harrassment.

Sometimes our escorts can't get there quick enough, as was the case with one young woman last week - a protester got to her first and started talking to her, so by the time the escorts found her and brought her inside she was in tears. There's not much we can do in situations like that except to pick up the pieces afterwards - after all, they certainly have a right to talk to people.

Despite the aforementioned mild November weather, winter is almost upon us (it snowed today!). Toe warmers are ready for the volunteers, and I've started dividing them into three shifts instead of two, something that I started last year (at MP's suggestion) and that has really worked out in the cold months, when a half hour less of standing still really makes a difference.

I can't think of any stories from the last clinic because I've been slack and left my blogging too long. Methinks a New Year's resolution is beginning to form. Anyway, stay warm, trust women. Etc.

A Note on Trolls

Hi friends. I didn't blog this week, sorry. I'm just dropping in to clarify my position on commenters who use personal attacks and so on - in other words, trolls. I am not going to be feeding the trolls; however, I have no problem with the rest of you engaging with them (in fact, it makes me feel both amused and supported).

Also, I will always publish their comments because I believe that it's important to see the kind of hatred we are up against, and the harrassment that abortion providers and patients face every day. These are people who cannot even put together a logical argument, or engage in debate; they show up right away with ad hominem attacks dripping in vitriol because that's all they have. They don't like women. They seems to be overwhelmingly anti-semetic. They are not worth our time, and yet at the same time I feel that it's important that we acknowledge that they are out there.

So there. I have published every comment ever submitted on this blog (except for a couple that were spam). And I won't be talking to people who come out swinging. But I support those who choose to. Because choice is awesome. ;)

Letters from the Quarantine Zone

Why yes, I haven't blogged for a while. I am almost as bad at updating as Peter Ryan (oh, snap!).

So, I have swine flu....maybe? Regardless, I am sick. So I may as well blog. The protesters really stepped it up this past Tuesday - maybe because of Remembrance Day, or maybe just to be dicks, it's hard to say. Regardless, there were a lot of them and they were being more aggressive than usual.

There is a new protester (as of last week). He is a young guy (well, younger than the rest of them) and he is nicely dressed, with a black leather coat. He stood across the street last week, which is a little weird because the rest of the protesters walk around on our side of the street. This week new guy started across the street but eventually came over to our side of the street. He got the honour of holding the "in memoriam" sign with the cross made out of glued-on plastic flowers. It is one of my favourites. Point being, we definitely need a nickname for this dude! Lay those suggestions on me in the comments.

A couple good observations from volunteer escorts this week. The first, from KM:

"[One of the escorts] was showing [another escort] a variety of dances that he had never heard of, including "The Shopping Cart", "The Chicken", "The Shower", and other things. We were all laughing, and then a flock of [protesters] near by looked at her with sad eyes, and said "Now imagine if her mother had aborted her".

Well....I guess then the other escort would still not know those dance moves? I mean seriously, the whole "what if your mother had aborted you" argument might just be the worst one. Or I guess the least effective one. I don't even want to get into it, it is so full of fail.

The second thing was that AB overheard one of the protesters telling another that God had called on her to quit her job and be a stay-at-home mom, and she had never worked since then. I wish God would help me make life decisions. Although afterwards we were talking about it and a couple of the escorts agreed that they felt "called" to be clinic escorts. So is God playing us, or what?

Anyway, if you weren't at the Andrea Gibson show last night you should be kicking yourself, because she is amazing. Google her. And if you are in Halifax tonight, please go see her - it will change your life, I promise.

I know there's more I want to blog about but I am DYING OF SWINE FLU. Bring me soup.

Jeff Goldblum is My Co-Pilot

So October has maybe been the busiest month for me so far. I'm not really sure why, it just happened that everything converged at once. So of course I'm at my most stressed during 40 Days of Ridiculousness.

That said, they haven't really bothered me that much. I feel more concerned for them (it's quite cold out there!) than annoyed. It's been a pretty interesting few weeks.

Last week SL had some signs made that I put up in the windows. They are shaped like stop signs, and they say things like "stop shame" and "stop intimidation". I guess just to get the protesters thinking about what they're doing - not that I think it will have any effect, but one can always hope.

Really, a great way to deal with this sort of stuff is by taking the piss. Yesterday after all the patients were inside, three of the escorts and I went over to stand with the vigil, with signs of our own. They said ridiculous things like "Kittens are adorable", "Safety first", "Dinosaur justice second", "Jeff Goldblum is my co-pilot" (that one was mine), and "If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it". We just wanted to play up the absurdity of their message, get a little post-modern up in here. It was fun. It drew most of them out of the house to come and stand with us/around us, and to pray and sing loudly.

We only got one verbal reaction from the protesters; the Mad Chatter starting asking us about the signs (she wanted to know "whose safety" we were putting first - I don't think she understood the concept of random sayings), and then when we wouldn't take our bait, she asked if we had helped raise money for Henry Morgentaler. She said she couldn't figure out why university students would raise money for "a multi-millionaire". I think I strained my eyes from rolling them so hard.

I also just noticed that the Mad Chatter's sign (not "I regret my abortion", the other one) is really ambiguous. It says "stop abortion hurts women". So...stop! Abortion hurts women? Or, stopping abortion hurts women? I can haz clarity?

Clinics have been fine the last couple of weeks. Patients haven't been noticably more upset by the vigil. I know they think they are saving babies by being there, but everyone who has left so far has been either too far along or not pregant. There was a young woman who changed her mind a couple weeks ago, but she came back this week (to my surprise! I thought for sure she wanted to have a baby). And there was a woman who went to their place last week, but she found us this week and went ahead with the abortion. I'm always in awe of the bravery of some of these women. I think a lot of them don't even realize how fierce they are until they walk through those idiots outside to get the care they need. It's really cool.

Yesterday a stranger on Facebook was kind enough to message me and inform me of my evil ways:

"Peggy, you aid in killing unborn babies on a daily basis. Sadistically you seem to be proud of that as well. You work in a culture of death. Even though what you are doing is morally wrong and aborehent I am convinced that you have as much a chance at realizing that as David Letterman does zipping up.

Now it is one thing to start a group like that [I admin a Facebook group supporting Dr. Morgentaler]. But what makes it ten times worse is the fact that you physically partake in the exact atmosphere you promote.

I don't know your parents, but personally mine taught me a little better than that. I'd be ashamed if that was my daughter."

So, sorry Mum and Dad - you fucked up. I sent this guy a message back asking if this kind of hateful shaming message ever works (as in, does it ever succeed in changing an evil pro-abort's black, frosty heart), but haven't heard back yet. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Oh, friends. The end of the 40 days draws near...soon we can go back to just the normal level of harrassment. Can't wait!