Comments

1
I still think we would be better off swinging dildos at them outside abortion clinics. Go as ordinary nuns and lift your skirts to show them big pink dicks.
2
If I didn't work on Sundays, I'd sign up.
3
I would do this in a heartbeat. WHERE do I sign up?
4
Since the churches are demonstrably dangerous places for children, the outreach is indeed very important. And, just as the church protesters hold graphic photos of the "crimes" they perceive, we should hold signs graphically depicting priests raping children. They could be made in photoshop if necessary. And, indeed could feature the faces of the actual priest at the church in question and the actual parishioners to make the dangers seem immediate and clear. A real public service.
5
But let me add, never, ever put your hands on anyone. Touching anybody can get you charged with assault and you don't want them getting any satisfaction.
6
I'm in. Thankfully I live in a civilized place where hard-right churches don't run the show.
7
We should start stalki- "gently counseling" the Supreme Court justices themselves about how to rule on their cases in "loving, caring, consensual conversations" as they walk into the building.
8
@6 People still picket outside the Madison Planned Parenthood every month though, with rosaries and "advice for abortion alternatives."
9
I'm all for it Dan! I live in Maryland and am not aware of any anti-choice protesters blocking clinics here but I would definitely support the tactics suggested in your post.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The Supreme Court Justices have just created more chaos for women exercising their reproductive rights.
10
Dan, I see where you're coming from. The problem is this: "It's okay to be gay!" is a different message than what we're selling, which they think is "Murdering children is okay!" I am thrilled that LGBTQ rights have progressed so much, but during that time, reproductive rights have gone backwards. I want to protest churches and would sign up in a second. I just don't think it is going to convince anybody to let us "murder our babies".
11
Yeah venomlash, I think you live in Chicago and there are often protesters outside the clinic on Western south of Diversey as well as the one #8 lists.Don't be complacent just because we're in a "blue" city.
12
@10

Abortion does not murder babies. Learn about how the human reproduction system works and get back to us.
13
@10

PS my cousin just had to get an abortion at 18 weeks. There were huge complications and the fetus was not going to live anyway. She is going through a lot of emotions right now.

Her choices were, literally:

1) get an abortion
2) die

So kindly fuck off.
14
This sounds like way more fun than what I see on event meetup sites. It could be called the "It Gets Louder Project."
15
@12 Woah there! @10 was saying that's what the bible bashers believe it to be, not what it actually is.
16
Our protesters are shipped up from the South, they go from clinic to clinic on righteousness vacations to harangue scared teenagers from state to state. Imagine the unlucky girl who gets them twice when she's too intimidated to go to the first clinic. Lovely people, just gems.
17
If a group of protesters began doing exactly what abortion protesters are doing down to the details to the wealthy patrons who are entering clinics to get plastic surgery - they wouldn't like it one bit - would get the law involved and soon, the supreme court would have to make another determination on this. Or somehow make a terrily hypocritical exception and prove that it's really all about keeping women from having control over their own bodies.
18
Um, I think folks may have misunderstood the court ruling. According to what I have read, the Supremes were not in favor of harassment and in fact pointed out that where there was a problem at a specific abortion clinic there should be a local ordinance/law passed to protect people from harassment. What they struck down was the right of the State to pass a state-wide buffer zone that included all clinics regardless of whether there was a problem or not. It was a ruling over jurisdiction and not the specific problem.
20
I think signs showing the photos and names, and most importantly, church affiliation of youth pastors, a la Dan's Youth Pastor Watch would be awesome for picketing churches. Demonstrators could also carry Ken dolls and ask church going teens to point to where their youth pastor or minister touched them.
21
#13. Your lack of reading comprehension is embarrassing you, and you don't even know it.
23
Back in the day, when an evangelist with a bullhorn would show up on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley to read from "the good book", Troll (he picked the nickname, not us) would drown him out by reading from Dr. Seuss (a good book). Without a bullhorn.
24
Acceptance of homosexuality is not parallel with acceptance/opposition to killing fetuses,
25
Don't forget to hand out sex-ed and abortion resource sheets to any adolescents you see heading into church.
26
@kwodell

Absolutely lovely !
27
One day every knee will bow but the greatest joy goes to those who embrace Him now.
28
@27 Scary!
29
@27 One "day", are you fucking with us ? It will be one night, you heresiarch ! Read the Bible, for once !
30
This is a great idea, except for one thing... there are *way more* far-right churches than abortion clinics. Thanks to a plethora of restrictive laws, abortion clinics are relatively scarce in America. Churches need only mobilize a small crew of anti-choice zealots to cover the small field of abortion clinic entrances. Churches, on the other hand, are far more prevalent. If we want to enact this approach, we'll have a staffing problem.
31
I like this. The fetus fetishists have hijacked the conversation and moved it away from real women. Putting real women back in front is where its at. That's what the pamphlets should be all about--not biology but humanity.
32
Nope, it is just not comparable Dan. First, as someone else said, a lot of these... citizens... are bussed in to major metro areas from BumFuckAll, AR, for a fun weekend of scoffing at minorities and harassing women while grossly mis-understanding how public transit works. So doing it "back" to them would require a LOT of people, buses, and time, all of which local clinic escort groups really, really don't have.

Second, the other half of the anti-nutters are usually "lone creep" types, who are so outre that they don't even have a home church, they just hate women who have sex. That's their religion. They just get up every dingley-dang-day and hate women for having sex. You see these guys (usually guys, but sometimes weepy older women of a vaguely Catholic or Mormon affiliation) holding up their bloody dead babies signs on college campuses as well, because that's where the sluts are. I guess?
33
Good on those 90s gays for solving the problem with brain power and initiative instead of violence.

Why limit it to churches?

Find out where the more outspoken leaders of these protests work and pay their workplace a visit as well, or where their children go to school, or their homes.

As long as it was non-violent it would probably spook the hell out of them.

LOL, if anybody watched HBO's "The Leftovers" last night you can see how creepy having some 'watchers' show up in front of your home can be.
34
@18 Of course the justices don't admit that they're "in favor of harassment"!! That would make them look like uncouth bigots. The respectable way to oppose the freedom of women is to focus on narrow legal issues and rule for your side on that basis.

I won't hold my breath waiting for SCOTUS to uphold a LOCAL buffer zone law instead of a STATE law. Do you really think that the current majority would be cool with such a law?

Bottom line, clinics will now need to ask police to prosecute harassment on a case by case basis. This is incredibly difficult, as unless there's evidence then it is a "he said, she said" situation.

I hope that clinics have lots of cameras installed to document this criminal activity.
35
In the 1990s awesome story, it seems that the counterprotest was completely positive and upbeat, and I wonder if that was a major part of why it worked. Part of the problem there was that the churchgoers didn't understand why their "help" was so unwelcome, so acting helpful was a really effective part of the message, it showed what that "help" felt like.
36
Ditto spacegirl. If you want the outcome to be constructive, you can't simply fight back with equal venom. That might be satisfying, but you would be doing nothing to help anyone, and would only feed the churches' victim complex.

An equivalent to that story might be handing out pamphlets about the importance of access to reproductive health, including abortions. Try to get those in the hands of their kids. (You might also include stats about graduation rates and socioeconomic outcomes for pregnant teens.)

(Also, as someone who's been a part of vocally pro-choice congregations before, think about which churches you picket. )
37
@12 & 13: Get a grip. @10 was NOT calling abortion baby-murder, they were simply explaining that this is the pro-life perception of abortion. That is an accurate assessment.

Personally, I'd love to do counter-protests not at churches necessarily, but at Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Just hand out pamphlets explaining that (1) This is not a medical clinic, (2) It is not legally required to keep your information confidential, (3) If you want a free pregnancy test, I have one from CVS right here, and (4) If you want to go to a real clinic where you can get real medical advice, I'm more than willing to drive you.

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