Should Anti-Abortionists Be Allowed To Protest Outside Clinics?

[sp1814]

It’s an emotive subject, but if women/couples are being guilted out of attending appointments, surely it’s no more than a Pyrrhic victory?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-uk-protests-government-urged-change-laws-clinics-vigils-a7984601.html

Perhaps there should be an exclusion zone around clinics, so that patients could come and go without feeling harassed?

[jno]

it does sound like targeted personal harassment rather than a general public protest.

[EcclesCake]

I once knew someone who used abortion as a form of contraception. She deserved to be shamed.

Rape victims, unlucky naive teenagers and other unfortunate soles should be allowed the privacy they deserve.

[Mamyalynne]

As you rightly say, it's a hugely emotive topic - everyone is entitled to their own view but as said above this approach can be very nasty indeed.

For the vast majority, abortion is not done on a whim.

[Ellipsis]

No, they should protest outside Parliament ...

[ummmm]

I also know someone who had multiple abortions but then was refused and had to go private.

The reason for abortions can be very personal and not down to irresponsibility. To have an abortion you have to have two doctors agree with your reasons. So yes, there should be an exclusion zone...or a different entrance.

[woofgang]

I absolutely agree that this unkind and bigoted behaviour should be stopped.

[douglas9401]

More religious nuttery disrupting the everyday lives of citizens as they go about their legal business.

Off to your places of worship to bleat your concerns to omnipotent sky dwellers who obviously haven't noticed what's going on and intervened.

The bearded ones could be removed from roadways and pavements at the same time.

[ludwig]

// if women/couples are being guilted out of attending appointments, surely it’s no more than a Pyrrhic victory? //

Not to the protesters. It's exactly what they're trying to do, so the victory is a straightforward victory.

I tend to agree that although people have the right to protest, that doesn't mean they should be allowed to do it anywhere they like, and outside a clinic is probably such a case.

[Peter Pedant]

// No, they should protest outside Parliament ...//
erm it is against the Treason Felony Act 1848

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_Felony_Act_1848

there was the fellow who camped in a tent on thingey green outside parliament for two years - and an act of parliament was passed to prevent demos (specifically to cover what he was doing - because he was possing off the MPs and crapping in the drains etc) - so they were gonna hang draw and 1/4 him - and s/o remembered the act wasnt retroactive -- ooooops! ( to be said in a deep voice like a strike of Bib Ben)

[Peter Pedant]

yes they should ( be allowed to demo outside etc)

there were dissatisfied parents outside the local kidz hospital - who were collected on the lawn oppo the old hospital - who were demonstrating against various erm things
" Dont go in there - they will kill your child as they did to ours!" they shouted - placards - "Danger - baby Killers at work" etc

and the general view was that they were allowed to
and the Hospital was not a 'special case'

They got bored after about 5 or ten years

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Yes, they should be allowed to protest. Anything that may cause someone to think twice before destroying a life should not only be tolerated but welcomed. In general, the protestors tend to highlight graphically the horrific truth about what an abortion is, and again, anything that dispels the notion you are about to have a 'minor routine operation' and about to do something hugely significant, not only to your own wellbeing, but that of an unborn child, should be welcomed.

[naomi24]

This isn't protest - it's harassment - and no, it shouldn't be allowed.

[rockyracoon]

No, they shouldn't be allowed. It's bullying women at their weakest moment. Utterly abhorrent.

[Ellipsis]

PP, as far as I'm aware it's still possible to demonstrate outside Parliament, but a lot more difficult than it used to be.

https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/free-speech-and-protest/protest/protest-around-parliament

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

I don't believe this has anything to do with the bullying of women. Simply giving a voice to the unborn child that the person has chosen to terminate. Is it not utterly abhorrent to turn a blind eye while human life is destroyed? Or warn that the mental health of persons having abortions is at serious risk by going ahead with the termination? These poor women, when they are feeling so weak and vulnerable, should not be bullied into making a decision they may regret and have to live with for the rest of their lives. Is there a big difference between this and people who protest outside a prison during an execution, hoping for a change of heart, and a stay of the penalty of death?

[sunny-dave]

If you think women are bullied into having an abortion, Hazi, then you live in a very strange and unpleasant place.

Having an abortion is a difficult, personal choice - which needs the woman to jump through plenty of hoops before she can finally reach a decision - with most of the information she will be exposed to along the way being either neutral or stressing the possible negative consequences of abortion.

If she has reached a decision to go ahead with a termination, then a woman should not then be vilified and bombarded with noise and propaganda by people grinding a political axe - that *is* bullying and it is not acceptable in any decent society.

I know one or two young women who made this heart-rending (but for them correct) decision - the concept that you and your ghastly harridans should be allowed to screech at them at such a vulnerable time is revolting.

[gness]

Thank you, Dave......I had to have a pregnancy ended because continuing would have meant me dying....

The Catholic Church banned me from all sacraments for having what it considered an elective abortion.....

Having had a date and a name for the baby was heartbreaking enough....to leave the hospital to be met with these ignorant beings would have been horrendous....

I wasn't bullied, Hazi......but I was later by nasty folk like you....

[Ellipsis]

> Is there a big difference between this and people who protest outside a prison during an execution, hoping for a change of heart, and a stay of the penalty of death?

Yep, big difference because we don't have the death penalty. We're talking about the UK and birth here, not (e.g.) the US and death.

Theoretically I'm anti-abortion too, since I think life begins at or soon after the point of conception. I'm not religious but I think that's a reasonably logical and ethical position.

I accept it's unusual, therefore, practically, I believe the letter of the English law on abortion is about right - it was really well thought out. If people don't agree with the law then they should protest that with Parliament. They should not heckle people going about their lawful business.

[Spicerack]

I don't see why Hazi is coming in for personal abuse for having a different opinion.

[jim360]

"I once knew someone who used abortion as a form of contraception. She deserved to be shamed."

Even supposing that to be true -- and I don't agree, although I can see why people would -- it's no-one's business why a woman chooses to have an abortion, and certainly these protesters can't know the woman's reasons either.

There was one outside the hospital a couple of miles down the road earlier this year: 40 days for life, I think the movement is called -- and it was not something I cared to see myself, let alone any woman who faces such a decision.