Do you think we should protest at local abortin clinics?

[JoB]

Dave posted about a protest he wanted us to be aware of against a local abortion clinic this weekend on another thread.

since the integrity of that thread is important to me and the issue it illuminates time sensitive, i decided to step up and provide an appropriate place for the conversation.

I would ask both Dave and New Resident and anyone else who really wants to talk on this subject to cross post their remarks here.. so we can all follow the entire conversation.. i will go back and copy and paste my own…

but before i do.. just to get things rolling..

is there an abortion clinic in west seattle?

a simple yes or no will do..

if there isn’t, do you think there should be one?

If there is, do you think it is appropriate to protest abortion outside an abortion clinic during operating hours?

Do you believe it is ok to insult or otherwise demean women who enter the abortion clinic or attempt to prevent women from entering the clinic?

Would you allow an underage daughter to get an abortion?

Would you force an underage daughter to get an abortion?

Would you prevent an underage daughter from getting an abortion and insist she have the child?

if so, would you raise it or would you insist she give it up?

Dave wants a discussion..

i doubt this is where he would start it.. but i started the thread…

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[JanS]

Joanne…no clinic here that I know of…

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[JoB]

this thread can end here. there is already an abortion thread posted.. i will go post on it.

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[RS]

There is a clinic here. Down near the Safeway. As someone who used to work at a similar clinic, I definitely don’t think it is appropriate for people to protest outside of a clinic, but as a believer in free speech, I support their right to do so, within the limits of the law. Anyone know if WA has a buffer zone law? We had one in Mass, but we’d also been targeted by some homicidal crazies…

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[RS]

Ooops, sorry. I liked the title of this thread better. :)

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[JoB]

me too.. oh well..

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[jbar]

There is a Planned Parenthood clinic across the street from the roxbury Safeway. PP does FAR more than just abortions – their mission is quite the opposite — it’s PLANNED parenthood, and it makes me cringe that someone would call it an abortion clinic. I would venture to guess that most folks are going to the clinic for other reasons — specifically access to low cost birth contol. I am all for free speech, but i wonder how many women, if any, who want to go to PP for birth control are steered away because of a protest — and then end up there anyway for the other reason? I have seen protestors there – they sit quietly on the other side of the street (on the safeway side) in chairs with their signs. Which provides me a great chance to talk to my daughters about 1) freedom of speech (even when we don’t agree) and 2) how women have fought over time for basic rights – including the right to make choices about their own bodies, and that there are people in this day in age who STILL want to take that right away.

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[Cait]

Well I don’t think one should stage a protest outside an abortion clinic unless those same people would agree with staging protests outside mega churches that condone beating children, private clubs that still only accept white members or churches that go on witch hunts for gays members. It’s all politically motivated prying in to other people’s beliefs. Some of them I think are more valid reasons than others – but personally I think abortion is one that needs to be left the hell alone.

If there was a way to only protest the young women using this as birth control, then by all means go right ahead. But realize that these girls likely just do not know enough about sex to make the right decision. Very few people if any go into a sexual encounter thinking that if they make a mistake they can just get an abortion – I’m sure the self righteous would like to think so though. Realize that when you are self-righteously waving your dead-fetus signs in front of a woman who has been raped you are the lowest life form I choose to believe exists.

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[beachdrivegirl]

Two things. First I dont think Planned Parenthood should be shunned. I believe that they do not even perform abortions at most of their clinics. They do alot of great work and hand out lots of free b.c. and testing to lower income familes and teens in need. So I would hate to mix the two up.Secondly, although I have mixed emotions on the pro-life/pro-choice issue I strongly believe that protesting outside of an abortion clinic is jsut plain old wrong. Although I do not 100% back everyone’s abortion; I believe that they are going through enough emotional baggage that a protest just isnt p.c.

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[Cait]

PC I think was the term I was searching for – thanks BDG! I agree wholeheartedly. It’s never something I would do myself but I support those who have to make that hard decision for their own reasons that I don’t pretend to know.

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[datamuse]

What I have always wondered is what protests at these clinics hope to achieve. If they want to make patients changes their minds…we’ve established in the other thread that that isn’t the end of the story. (In fact, I have a friend who used to work for an adoption advocacy organization and is an adoptee herself. Adoption is often cast in a light that makes it seem like an easier decision than abortion. It isn’t, from what I can tell.)

I used to live across the street from the Aradia Women’s Health Center on First Hill (it closed last year). There was a group of about 4-5 people who used to protest in front of it. Usually they were pretty quiet, but one Saturday morning they marched down the street with a bullhorn. Waking me up on a Saturday morning is not a way to win me over to your point of view, FYI.

That clinic mostly served lower-income women, and one of the reasons they closed was that they had more lower-income women seeking care than they could handle. Yes, abortion rates have gone up, but what interests me is the demographic shift that has accompanied that rise. Abortion is actually *down* among higher-income women. And this shift seems to have been accompanied by a general decrease in accessibility to birth control and family-planning services. Hmm.

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