DA BONEYARD

Failure to Connect

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pinkindiaink:

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Reading Catbus’s account of abortion protesterswas pretty discouraging. I sometimes like to pretend that people who disagree—even on an issue as loaded as abortion—can at least communicate. Even if they can’t understand the other’s perspective, perhaps they can at least accept the other side’s good intentions.

Here’s the thing: when the other side is standing in a parking lot, shouting scripture and damnation at me as I attempt to do something as elemental and none-of-their-business as visit the doctor, “good intentions” are a fantasy. Protesters aren’t there to communicate. They’re there to manipulate, intimidate, threaten, and shame women who they don’t even know.

Do you really believe that the person who comes out on a Saturday to stand in front of a clinic and harass women is interested in communicating?

I don’t think he would characterize what he’s doing as “harassing women.” (I don’t know the guy in question—but I’m guessing.) Is he shouting Bible verses because he thinks they’ll shame you or because he thinks they’ll persuade you to do something different? Why is he there? Why does he think you’re there. Why is he so passionate about the matter?

There are probably some people who think it’s great fun to manipulate, indimidate, threaten, and shame people. In my experience, those usually aren’t the retired Catholic guys with the rosaries. You’re right to the extent that he’s doing a bad job of getting his message through.

Would you say the same thing about an anti-war protest?

I only want to address one point: categorizing an abortion as simple as an “elemental trip to the doctor” is evasive and euphemistic language at its best. Nobody protests over buying buying Tylenol or seeing the doctor for migrains. Don’t compare their relative importance to an abortion, pinkindiaink.

Here’s the thing, dude. Any given Saturday, for like 80% of the people going into a repro health clinic, this IS a trip to the doctor, and they’re still getting hassled and screamed at and having experiences like username pinkindiaink’s. The vast, vast majority of people who are visiting my clinic on Saturday are there to pick up a prescription, get a pap smear, get a blood test, visit a gynecologist for some routine shit (PP operates on a sliding scale and is pretty liberal about accepting insurance), or see a counselor. For them, it most certainly IS ‘an elemental trip to the doctor,’ and they’re getting chased down by a guy with fetus pictures all the same.