Comments on: Reflections on Aurora

By: Kali

Kali — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:26:15 +0000

You are completely right, it is NOT over. The anti-choice crowd is still strong here. Harassing women and taking down plates and pictures of those who enter the Aurora clinic from a privately owned grocery store Dominick’s (owned by safeway) please visit the http://ppaurora.blogspot.com/ website to find out how a phone call or two to the Safeway reps will hopefully stop the harassment and help women in my area NoT fear getting the health care they need.

By: Cara

Cara — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:46:13 +0000

Okay. You’re entitled to your opinion.

I would just like to say a couple of things, though:

1. I was referring to anti-choice leaders. Not all anti-choice people. As an example it’s the same as saying “Republican Senators sure aren’t smart.” Well, you can disagree with my assertion that they aren’t intelligent, or just think that it is in bad taste for me to point out their lack of intelligence. But I in no way said that all Republican-affiliated voters are stupid.

2. I did not say that they were idiots, or stupid, etc. I said that I don’t give them points for intelligence. That means that I don’t perceive intelligence to be their strongest trait, not that I think they’re stupid as shit. I wish that they were; we would have gotten rid of them a long time ago.

3. Though I did not, in this particular post, generalize about anti-choice individuals, I have to say that I don’t have a huge problem in doing so. I define anti-choice as those individuals who actively work to take a woman’s right to choose away from her, not those who in the privacy of their own home think that abortion is bad. But I absolutely do not have a problem with stereotyping the kind of people who stand outside of clinics and harass women as they go to seek medical care. In fact, I’m not really sure that “stereotype” is the right word. I’d say that it is more of a judgment based on their actions and the people whom they choose to associate with.

If you’d like to discuss it further, that’s fine. If not, we can agree to disagree.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:20:19 +0000

While I agree with the majority of your article, I take issue with your characterization of anti-choice activists as unintelligent. I am strongly pro-choice, but I believe that making a generalization about people who don’t agree with me is not only rude, it’s also a way of dehumanizing the opposition, and I certainly don’t support that. While some pro-lifers are certainly idiots blindly following their religious leaders, many of them are people who just genuinely believe that life is sacred, and have good reasons for thinking so. I don’t think that disagreeing with someone is a reason to call them an idiot. Stereotyping a group is wrong, even if it’s a group that makes your blood boil.

By: brandann

brandann — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:12:58 +0000

ugh…you are so right! while we are being happy about this, we are missing the point completely.

and the crazies aren’t done…if you scan the anti-choice blogs, you can see that they are just waiting for the doors to open to launch their next bullshit plan…this time claiming that PP is just a “tennant” and subject to special permits…i say again that perhaps i read too much…sounds like another goose chase to me…

for all the women who just want good health care, i certainly hope that these seemingly selfish people can find it in their self-described good hearts to back off, and let women (and men, b/c if i am not mistaken there is some men’s care offered at PPs as well) get the care they deserve…affordably and w/o fear!

By: bonnie

bonnie — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:07:06 +0000

I am glad you posted this. I have incredibly mixed feelings, and like yours, mine are stemming from the fact that this shouldn’t be happening.

I logged on to the NY Times and read an AP headline that said “Abortion Clinic Allowed to Open in Illinois”. And my very first reaction was that I should be relieved or pleased or something. Instead I’m indignant.

ALLOWED????? Opening a health center is completely 100% legal. They were not ALLOWED to open, they were not permitted to, they were always in the right.

The article gets worse as it begins:
“A suburban Planned Parenthood clinic prohibited from opening after anti-abortion activists raised questions about how it received its building permits will be allowed to open, city officials said Monday.”

Raised questions? Hell no. Let’s try “…when anti-choice activists unfairly accused” or “attacked” or “provoked an unfounded investigation” or “when city officials bowed to the pressure of insane protesters and wasted taxpayer money to hire excessive legal aide to investigate completely unfounded permit issues”

grrrrrrrr.

I am relieved its open. But this shouldn’t be the cost and I can only see it going further and further down this road in the future for Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice orgs.