I’ll answer, even though you didn’t ask me.
No. in fact, it’s my view that it’s not morally okay to confront and yell at women even if they are seeking an elective abortion that’s not the result of incest or rape.
Do you believe it’s morally wrong to do so (in either scenario)?
Well, you raise a good point. Despite being pro-life, I am completely unfamiliar with the staffing and scheduling involved with protest groups that scream at women.
I don’t think they are numerous. But I have no actual evidence to back up any impressions I might harbor.
That’s… interesting. But I think this is going to turn into a hijack. OK, you think liberals don’t like people who go to church. Great. Moving on.
Again: they’re not women going for abortions, they’re women going to clinics. Some of them are there for abortions, but they’re not all doing that. I have little hope that you’ll acknowledge that, but it’s an important distinction. And my answer is that going to a clinic is not a political act or an expression of any public position. It’s a trip to a clinic and that’s it. It’s no more inherently political than protesting outside a GP’s office or a radiologist’s. Why should people be allowed to intimidate people who are just going to a doctor?
In both scenarios, I believe it’s morally wrong.
What’s awesome is you have no ability to make me feel guilt or shame. Your screaming at me at a clinic might make me feel fear, so I guess you’ve got that going for you.
Good for you. I hope you’ll join me in considering volunteering as a clinic escort, so that women who choose to enter certain buildings will have people on their side, offering support for their right to enter any building they choose.
For the same reasons that Westboro Baptist couldn’t be successfully sued for emotional distress when they picketed Corporal Matthew A. Snyder’s funeral.
That pesky First Amendment.
Because we don’t consider natural deaths to be a big problem in need of a solution. Homicide or suicide are a very different thing than death from natural causes.
Nope. Because while I don’t approve of the yelling, neither do I approve of the reasons for many of their visits, and it would be inappropriate and unhelpful for your cause if I were to condition my escorting on women who were present for reasons other than abortion.
However, I have been to many abortion clinic “protests,” and am fully prepared to tell anyone on my side who yells, or acts in any way aggressively that he or she should stop.
What if you were to condition your escorting on “women who want to enter that building over there for reasons that are none of your damn business”?
Further, would you concede that it is a morally positive thing to do to act as moral and physical support for women who want to enter that building over there for reasons that are none of your damn business? Or is it a morally bad thing to do?
I’ll let you hash it out with this guy:
I actually do think Westboro Baptist should have been sued- it violates the entire purpose of a funeral to have people protesting it.
On top of that, of course, whatever your feelings on the morality of homosexuality, it certainly doesn’t inherently harm anyone else (except arguably the person themselves). The same can’t be said of abortion: those of us on the pro-life side believe it causes lethal harm to a third party.
Could you explain to me what your point is? I’m honestly not sure why that’s relevant.
The percentage of abortions had by the women in my family due to rape is 100%, so why should I be comforted that a whole bunch of women in my wife’s position were likely also screamed at? Because they represent a fraction of a bunch of other people?
Honestly, I have no problem with the court’s ruling. I hate that people are assholes and take advantage of our fantastic free speech laws, so why the heck are you defending these idiot protestors by saying “They only yell at a few thousand rape victims. Were you aware of that?” Are you aware of how silly your post sounded?
Why should P*ssy Riot be able to offend people who are just going to church?
I get that you don’t think their rights are important. This thread is not about Russia, so let’s not talk about Russia.
I admit that they’re different, but why aren’t you concerned with the natural ones? It’s still a life lost!
If it’s the life you’re concerned about, you’d be concerned about the natural causes, too. Or do you think it’s OK for people to die of cancer, and that we shouldn’t do cancer research?
Like I said: you’re all up in arms about the abortion, but don’t really care about the lives you claim to be saving.
Now, if you say it’s God’s will that the natural terminations happen, well then, you’re entitled to your religion, but your beliefs shouldn’t give you the right to harass people doing perfectly legal things that I do not find shameful or worthy of blame.
I’d like to see whether you’d protect the free speech rights of Islamic groups who shouted insults at you whenever you tried to go to church. But you already conceded that it’s not about free speech, since you think Westboro shouldn’t be able to play havoc at funerals. It’s about your religion.
Well sorry, your religion doesn’t dictate the law. (Thank God!)
I certainly hope they’re ignorant of what it is they’re really doing, because if not, they’re choosing to knowingly take an innocent human life. Which says a lot about their character. I’m charitable enough to assume most of them don’t truly understand what it is they’re doing.
You do seem to imply that there are those who disagree that a fetus is a person, at least. Do you go far enough to acknowledge that their views can be as thoughtful and as morally-based as your own?
ETA: Never mind, I just saw your last post, and the answer is No.
No. I was rebutting the implication in iiandyiii’s post that seemed to suggest the phenomenon was far more common.
And again, “a few thousand” is not a measure of how common the phenomenon is. 1% of all abortions are for rape-related reasons. That is, I think you’ll agree, uncommon.