General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsStories from women going to abortion clinics. The first one is great.
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/news/abortion-clinic-protesters?click=smart&kw=ist&src=smart&mag=COS&link=http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/news/abortion-clinic-protesters-SMT-COSI was 21 when a routine physical showed that I was pregnant. I fainted when I found out. I was on the Depo-Provera shot and in a committed relationship. I was also going to college, working full time and decided to end the pregnancy. I wasnt ready physically, emotionally or financially to be a parent. I spoke to a woman at the clinic who asked if I needed an escort from my car on the day of my appointment. My aunt and best friend were accompanying me, so I said no. But then she told me to call if I was having trouble. I asked, Why? She paused and said, Just please call if you are having any issues.
I was the first appointment that day and noticed a few men, all in their 50s or 60s, milling around the parking lot when we pulled in. Once we got out of the car, one made a beeline for us with a fistful of pamphlets. My aunt said, Thanks, but no thanks, and he got irate, screaming, How can you do this? Youre killing your baby to continue on your whore lifestyle, you jezebel! Suddenly we were surrounded by five other men thats when the baby-doll parts starting hitting us.
They had a box filled with torn apart baby dolls covered with red paint. All three of us were hit in the head, chest, torso. As they were pelting us, they yelled, This is what youre doing to your baby! Look at the street! Its strewn with the blood of your baby. Thats your baby scattered across the street! It was surreal and terrifying at once. And we still had to cross a wide street to enter the clinic. Then they shouted at my aunt, Grandma, why are you letting her do this? Tell her to give her baby up for adoption! My aunt responded, First of all, Im not old enough to be a grandma. Second, come talk to me when you have a uterus and a vagina.
<snip>
But there was one good thing the protesters did that morning: They convinced me I was making the right decision. I bet every single woman inside that waiting room felt the same way, even though none of us spoke. Wed all just been through the most heinous experience, but there was a feeling of quiet satisfaction among this group of women amidst the horror. I thought, If I can make it through that, I can make it through the rest of this day.
alittlelark
(18,886 posts)What SUX even more is that the assholes sons are now there.
Maraya1969
(22,441 posts)to a clinic in Deland Fl. for birth control in 76-77 and I never saw a protester.
I think women should be handed out fog horns before they go in just so they can blow them at the protesters.
MsPithy
(809 posts)pablo_marmol
(2,375 posts)I'm thinking pepper spray.
That's not a good idea because it may be considered assault. Unless somebody lays hands on a person, I wouldn't do it.
chemenger
(1,593 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)I'm just thinking that the woman going into the clinic shouldn't spray somebody with pepper spray because some asshat is hollering.
I went with a friend of mine at least 10 years ago. This was a smallish town in WI. Sometimes there was 3 or 4 people protesting outside the PP clinic. The signs they had were horrible, and they were loud. One of the women reached out as if to grab my friend or me and I told them if they touched us, I was calling the police. She backed off. Later when we came out those people were across the street, and there was a cop car parked in front of them. Neither of us was interested in getting into an altercation with those people, whether vocal or physical. I decided that my friend needed my support more than I needed to stand there and argue. Later in the summer they would show up around town at various corners, and now there were 10 of them. They were in front of the dollar store once and I had to stop at the stop sign. My 5 year old sons saw the signs and started crying and got scared. The signs were HUGE pictures of dead and maimed babies. Word got around and I found out that other moms I knew had scared kids also. Cops were called, petitions signed. Eventually they were made to stop using those signs because of some ordinance against indecent or something signs - I don't remember exactly.
pablo_marmol
(2,375 posts)Should have used the tongue-in-cheek emoticon.
Wait a minute.......IS there a TIC emoticon?
progressoid
(49,825 posts)Love it!
Heidi
(58,237 posts)SheilaT
(23,156 posts)an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy has any right whatsoever to judge those who have.
And even then, making a different decision does not give you the right to judge those who decided otherwise.
Personally, I can imagine situations in which I'd go through with a pregnancy, and others in which I wouldn't. All situations are not equal.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)In some cases protestors will even write down license plate numbers and get information about who is there. It's scary.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)JJChambers
(1,115 posts)Throwing things at women on their way into an abortion clinic? Maybe only a misdemeanor but that's still up to a year in jail to think about their actions. Lock them up!!