So, what sort of things do anti-abortion folks do where you live? For simplicity’s sake I’ve narrowed The Whole World down to five continents, and activity levels down to “none”, “protesters”, and “protesters and violence”. Feel free to specify your actual country in the thread itself.
There was quite a bit of protesting outside the Morgentaler clinic in Toronto years ago, but I haven’t heard of anything in that vein for a long time. Maybe it still happens; if so, it hasn’t made it into the headlines lately.
This is Northern Ireland- so no actual abortion clinics (although abortions for strictly medical grounds happen here- about 2 per week at the last count). No protests outside the hospitals where that happens though.
There are some crazy people (I’ve actually talked to them- they’re nuts) who stand in the middle of town every few weeks with some rather unpleasant posters and hand out leaflets linking abortion to breast cancer.
There is also a very weird lady who stands and shouts things outside one of the family planning clinics in Belfast.
There was a lady who worked at a clinic which offered advice and support on abortion (but did not perform them) who had a very unpleasant campaign waged against her- her neighbours got leaflets through their doors saying “do you know you live next to a murderer” and so on. No actual violence AFAIK.
Just realized I forgot to respond myself. I live in Florida, and I’ve only visited one abortion clinic. Outside there was a little old lady and her husband, who offered me coffee while I waited, and debated Dawkins with me.
Then every now and then they’d see a car going past and they’d rush over to wave placards and yell about hellfire and baby killing. The clinic itself had what looked like brand new metal detectors inside the door, and you had to be buzzed through to the main lobby/waiting area.
There were a few doctors murdered in the 90s, there was a Klan protest outside a clinic last year (though they were only concerned about white children being aborted, natch), and there have been any number of “suspicious fires” at clinics, but no actual bombings, as far as I know.
I’ve never even heard of anyone protesting outside abortion clinics in the UK. There was some fuss relatively recently over whether the law should be changed to further restrict the time in which you’re allowed an abortion (it was 24 weeks, they were looking at taking it down to 20 weeks - I don’t think it passed) - but it was at a political level, and such votes are always conscience votes, not constrained along party lines.
There really isn’t anywhere near as much fuss in most of the UK as in the US, as far as I can tell. (Northern Ireland has different abortion laws - abortion is not allowed there, as I understand it.)
I’ve seen people protesting outside of my local Planned Parenthood - last time I went (being insurance-less), there were enough people that they had an escort to bring patients in. Nobody seemed like they would get violent though, and most times there aren’t any protesters at all.
I live in St. Louis, MO. When I lived in Boston, I almost never saw protestors outside of PP. Just one person with a sign, once. And I walked by a lot, since it was on my way home from work.
At both locations, you had to sign in and go through a metal detector to get to the actual clinic.
Israel (Asia, I guess) – used to have sporadic protests, and maybe a few scattered cases of unorganized violence by truly independent nut jobs over the years, but abortion has been a non-issue in this country for at least 20-25 years now (and by non-issue, I mean “essentially freely available.”) So - “No activity,” here.
I’m in the US of A and post from a library right across the street from Planned Parenthood.
There are protesters outside the clinic every day the weather is good. Watching and talking to them has made me realize how sickening some anti-abortion protesters can be. My favorite quote: Every woman ergrets having an abortion. No woman regrets giving a baby up for adoption.
And of course, they do not support gay adoption, but only adoption by the “right” people.
Norway here. I know there are a couple of (defrocked) Lutheran priests who used to make a big deal of kneeling outside of hospitals or clinics where abortions were performed and praying loudly, usually taking care to inform the local media ahead of time… but I haven’t heard anything about them for a while. Maybe they gave it up, maybe the media just stopped paying attention. So I answered nothing, no protests, and certanly no violence.
My local Planned Parenthood in Boston doesn’t always have protesters. It is always a hassle to enter because they’ve had staff murdered-I never questioned the security after I learned that.
How is it that roughly half of the people in the US that responded to the poll claim we don’t have violence? Wasn’t that the inspiration of this poll in the first place? Is the claim that it’s merely regional violence? :dubious:
I wonder if people are just responding to what they’ve actually witnessed? I didn’t actually vote, because while I’ve never witnessed any violence myself, I know we do have it, so I wasn’t sure how to vote.
I haven’t voted either for that reason. It would be sort of like a poll asking whether or not we have serial killers, yeah, they exist, but they aren’t pervasive enough that they regularly happen.
I have however witnessed multiple protests, and I haven’t even been to a clinic, as a matter of fact all clinics I’ve noticed when I drove by them have never had protesters. It’s when they line the streets of a major city street that you notice them.
Hijack- nicole1912 No, the reduction to 20 weeks wasn’t passed.
Abortion in the UK is legal until 24 weeks for “social” reasons, and legal without a time limit where
a) the life of the mother is at risk
b) the foetus has a major abnormality
In Northern Ireland there is no legal abortion for foetal abnormality, however, if a doctor has a reasonable belief that the woman would likely suffer significant serious physical or psychological damage if a pregnancy is not terminated an abortion is legal. It’s a get out clause for “life of the mother”, rape and incest cases.
This means the law is basically a grey area, open to individual judgment of what, exactly “significant” and “likely” mean. While abortions aren’t done for social reasons they do happen (albeit rarely).
I know, for example that one doctor argued that a woman was in danger of significant psychological damage if a pregnancy affected by anencephaly (no brain tissue, i.e. a non-viable foetus) were to continue, and the abortion was performed in Northern Irelan-legally.
It is simpler for Northern Irish women to travel to England for terminations- and so they do.
This is France speaking.
No protests beyond talking heads making noise with their mouths at political rallies or church. No picketing outside Family Planning, no fire-bombings of abortion sites (just as well, since every hospital has an abortion ward), no published lists of “abortionists” for the public to shoot, hurl abuse or strongly worded anonymous mail at.
There *were *vigorous protests and public outrage back in the 70s when abortion became legal, but it’s mostly a non-issue today. Up until 1995 there was still a handful of nutters going around to storm operation rooms and tie themselves up, or getting women out of the premises by force ; but as a result, “obstruction to abortion” has become an actual, specific crime, with heavy fine, jail time and everything. Haven’t heard from them since.
Of course, we *are *morally bankrupt godless statist hedonists, so I suppose there’s that :D.
I wonder though : what do the people in the US who demonstrate in front of abortion clinics all day, every day do ? Don’t they have jobs or something ? Kids to take care of ?
I have trouble with the options. “Protesters only” implies there is never violence, while “Protesters and Violence” implies that violence is common.
It’s my impression (US) that protests are pretty common, and actual violence is rare enough that it makes national news when it occurs. Abortionists being killed seems to happen about once a decade.
In between, there seems to be more intimidation/threatening behavior that falls in between protests and actual violence.
I said “North America, protesters only,” but I very, very rarely see the protesters. I used to go by an abortion clinic every day (it was torn down to make condos) and I only saw protesters out there once. Mostly I see them driving a truck (or once, a banner plane) with a giant aborted fetus picture blown up on the side of it.
I live in Columbus, Ohio. I can think of two “Crisis Pregnancy Center” places off the top of my head where you go in and they badger you into NOT getting an abortion (one right next to a Planned Parenthood that to my knowledge doesn’t even do abortions), but after that clinic closed, I’m not even sure where to go to get an abortion in town.
Ha - well-timed thread - I got Tweeted today about a protest in Cape Town that antagonised a friend on her way to get a cupcake. She was not amused, in a “my uterus, my business” kind of way.