Ugh, I fucking hate those people! I used to park in the ramp next door, and whenever I'd see them harassing young women, I'd scream out the window at them until they backed off.

A legal backlash that could be done by the city is actually enforce the parking spot they use to park their propaganda van. They park it there all day, but never feed quarters into it (I'm sure they'd just say they were standing right there and probably something about doing gods work or some such crap).

I also heard a clever tactic used by the workers of the Building for Women: adopt a protester. Every time someone showed up to protest, they would donate money to the clinic, then tell the protester "Every day you show up, you are providing funding to support our clinic."

Denfeld School now does abortions? I wasn't aware that was on the curriculum (rolls eyes at stupid protesters).

They used to protest at the Planned Parenthood on Central Entrance, even though they don't perform abortions at that site. One day they accosted me, I said "You know they don't perform abortions here, right?" They said they did know, but still wanted to protest. "Well I'm here for a pap smear - scaaary, evill! I might get diagnosed with cervical cancer and be able to treat it before it spreads! The horror!

No.

Sjixxy takes their photos whenever he gets the chance.  I think this makes them uncomfortable because for some reason they're always wearing masks.

I think we should take a cue from PETA (oh, don't get me started on *them*) and throw buckets of blood/paint/whatever on their signs, to express our free speech.

spy1 - I'll have some good shots of my colonoscopy results soon if you need photo submissions.

I've always been confused as to why the protestors feel this is an effective method of communicating their position.  After all these years of debate, I don't think there are too many people over the age of 16 who have completed a middle school biology class who won't have a rudimentary idea of what an aborted fetus might look like.  Personally, I'm against rectal cancer and priests raping children, but I'm quite sure that viewing large, detailed color photos of either on a city street corner, first thing in the morning, will not provide any additional information that will change my perspective ... any more or any less.

How about this one?

[img]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/30/1309510//WARSmall.jpg[/img]

I suppose if I thought abortion was mass murder, I might do some "different" things too.

I also might do some "different" things if I believed that gay lifestyles, premarital sex, blasphemy, or masturbation sent one to hell.

Thank goodness I don't believe such things.  But many do.

The other white meat?

"But as a women you should have a choice ... maybe right .. maybe wrong." -Patricia

I'm not entirely sure that "choice" is the right way to put it.  If the protesters are right, and abortion is morally and religiously just like murdering an adult, then saying that it is a choice seems weird.  If it is murder, the choice should be illegal.

My friends and I think that abortion is not anything like murdering an adult.  So we think it should be every woman's choice.  So even if it is sometimes the wrong choice, it is nothing like murder.

i just dont like the fact that the subject small children to seeing that shit, have an opinion..sure, but be effective...sure, know your rights.... sure but for fucks sake be aware...
''im against picketing, i just dont know how to show it''
-Mitch Hedberg

"Sometimes I wish I was a woman, just so I could have an abortion."

-John Waters

Pictures of dead fetuses are objectionable because they are like pictures of tumors, or dead animals - things of an icky nature that we do not want to see. It is human nature to not want to see things that repulse us, and anything in the squishy medical category is repulsing when put on a large poster.

Taking a shit isn't objectionable. Taking a picture of it and parading it down Superior Street?

Also, the vast majority of large hospitals provide some sort of abortion referral services in one way or another, much as PP does.  In fact, many major hospitals do the procedures themselves (and keep it as quiet as possible, for obvious reasons).

What's the deal with those awful "pro life across America" billboard all along I-35? Who funds these people?

They don't make a very strong argument, "at 8 weeks I had eyes and a nose!" 

So do rat fetuses, your point?

I walked to work ONCE that way and was accosted by both protestors and a pro-choice advocacy group offering me an escort.  All was caught on videotape for posterity.  I sheepishly told them I was just walking to work.

Abortion IS murder...plain & simple.  There are more people waiting to adopt than there are children mainly because of abortion.  A living human being is being killed when someone chooses abortion.  I'm amazed at how flippant some of the comments are in here ... especially from those who have adopted.

Rougement:

"Brutal" as in you comparing a rat fetus to a human fetus?

Ok, I'll play your game.  If not murder, what do you call the intentional killing of a human being?

And not even a good troll.

I just want to know if I'll ever see the day where I am not bombarded by the fact that the Electric Fetus resides in my neighborhood. Quit with the onslaught of music.

Dan, you might be surprised to know that I'm pro-life -- in that abortion would not have been an option for me if I'd ever had an unwanted pregnancy. But I'm also pro-choice -- a woman has the right to decide what she wants to do with her body, b/c whether or not to bear a child forever changes any woman's life. If you are against abortion, then don't have one. And don't tell anyone else what to do.

Those carrying the signs and protesting outside abortion clinics aren't there to educate, they're there to intimidate. But I do support a person's right to free speech, so if they want to alienate people with their obnoxious tactics, fine. I'm just glad the pro-rights people are there to escort women into clinics.

I respect all of your opinions...except the ones calling me a troll.  I was just stating my opinion on the issue.  

Baci, we're friends and I think it's awesome that you are an adoptive parent.

Where I differ from most of you here is that I view abortion as a right to life issue.  Whether that baby is two weeks old or nine months old, it deserves the protection we would offer any child out of the womb.  So my belief is that when an abortion occurs, a human life has been lost.  Any other interpretation of that process doesn't fly with me.

Yes, Priests that molest children are awful and have destroyed many lives.  It should and hopefully someday will be stopped.  I just wish abortion was viewed by some of you as being just as horrible.

Adoption is wonderful and currently something that my wife and I are actively pursuing.

I despise the protesters outside the Building For Women, but I can understand why they do what they do -- misguided and obnoxious though I think them to be. But those "Jesus Freaks" who were showing up at every public event in Duluth for a while there with their signs ... they were not just misguided and obnoxious, but I was just wondering what the hell they thought they were accomplishing? Haven't seen them around this summer. Maybe they gave up, though I did read on this thread I think of a sighting at Grandma's.

dan, thats awesome, anything I can do to help, let me know... also please excuse my flippancy, i get that way sometimes, this is all such a personal issue. I guess thats my take..to be decided by the individuals involved,  ... it is a serious issue, with as many subtleties as there are people involved. Thats why, when I see the protesters I get steamed, is so anyone disrespectfully in their face about their moral choices? I dont know anyone who would take the abortion option lightly. Thankfully the "stigma" of adoption is beginning to fade.

bluenewt, my kiddo is a monkey pants, political refugee and chaos insurgent. The stars brought her to us. just so happened she came down in china. having her is by no means "second best" for anyone involved.

I'm not saying adoption is second best for the parents who adopt. Not at all. I'm saying that for the child the best thing would be to have birth parents able to give her a safe and loving home in a safe, stable country. Obviously that's not the world we live in, and in the world we live in, the right thing to do is take in kids who won't otherwise have a family. I don't mean to denigrate the loving families adoptive parents have created. It just irks me when abortion foes want to make out like adoption is all rainbows and Disneyland. Many adopted children feel a lot of sadness and loss, even if they have terrific adoptive parents. I have even known some who, once they were adults, tried to repatriate to their home countries and found they could not feel at home there, either. If we want to take good care of these kids, we have to acknowledge that with adoption comes loss.

Word to B-man. Right with you.