re: #329 FemNaziBitch

Is it just me or are we missing Obdicut?

I’ve been busy/travelling/camping in the High Sierras/working.

On the subject of the court’s ruling: I think it’s a good ruling. That the conversations are not consensual is, sadly, something observable only after the fact. If you prevent people from that conversation, you also prevent people from any other conversation you can reasonably think might not be wanted, like asking someone for change, help of any kind, to sign a petition, etc.

There’s a huge problem of inconsistency: The Supreme Court and politicians get big buffer zones, while facing less physical threat than abortion doctors, nurses, and patients. There’s a big problem that protesters who violate the laws are not arrested. In San Francisco, where I worked, the protesters were allowed on the sidewalk, to start ‘conversations’ (or just scream abuse) at the people going into the clinic. What they were NOT allowed to do, but they did anyway, was pursue, follow, approach, and continue after being told ‘no’.

If we enforced actual laws on the protesters about disregarding people who said ‘no’ or otherwise ignored them, they’d probably all get arrested. They are not good at following or respecting the law. But the laws we do have don’t get enforced—the cops are normally ignorant of the particular laws, and cops don’t actually like arresting people, it’s a big hassle for them.

I hate the evil that the protesters do, but I don’t think that this ruling was in error. I encourage those of you with free time and calm spirits to work as abortion clinic escorts to provide friendly faces and protection against these assholes. For long-term solutions, we need to change our culture, and that’s the toughest row of all to hoe. Until then, lawsuits against protesters who are misbehaving are becoming easier thanks to ever-present iphones recording everything.