The Fine Line Between Free Speech and Harassment

March 1, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights ·

Anti-abortion extremists in Massachusetts filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s health clinic buffer zone laws.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill to put a 35-foot buffer zone between reproductive health and family planning clinics and anti-choice protesters last November. The reason behind this law is to ensure the safety of the clinic patients, as well as their staff as they enter and exit the clinics. There have been many cases of anti-abortion extremists protesting outside of these clinics across the country and by doing so, they are clutching their free speech cards and claiming that they are doing nothing wrong. This is true since the people of this country are able to voice their personal opinions and beliefs and there is, of course, nothing wrong with that. However, blatant harassment is not free speech.

You are not practicing free speech when you are screaming in the faces of the staff and patients of these clinics. You are not practicing free speech when you are screaming at the women walking into these health clinics and calling them murderers when you simply assume that is the reason why they must pay a visit to the clinic. You are not practicing free speech when you are telling women that their fetuses have a right to life when they may be visiting the clinic simply to get birth control or for their annual pap smears.

“For too long, patients and staff had to endure in-your-face screaming and harassment just to get to doctor’s appointments,” Angus McQuilken, vice president of public affairs for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe. “This 35-foot zone is more than reasonable.”

Between the hostility, billboard-sized pictures of fetuses, flyers that tell women that they are murderers and attempting to invoke guilt and the process of attempting to criminalize women for seeking a medical procedure that is legal, not only do I feel that the 35-foot buffer zone is “more than reasonable,” I feel as if there should be a much greater distance that these people must keep away from the Planned Parenthood health clinics. How dare they attempt to file a lawsuit saying that they are being denied the right to free speech. Women are being denied the right to safely and securely enter a health clinic based on other people’s moral opinions.

Tags: anti-abortion extremism, anti-choice, free speech, harassment, Planned Parenthood

Pro-Lifers Waving the Free Speech Card Again

February 9, 2008 · Filed Under Reproductive Rights ·

pro life Anti-abortion activists, as we know all too well by now, will stop at nothing to get their way and make sure they have the opportunity to brainwash and force their religion-driven opinions on as many people as they can. This is yet another demonstration of pure absurdity!

A South Dakota anti-abortion group, Citizens for Life led by Allen Carlson, filed a law suit against Rapid City School District because they refused to let Citizens for Life use their auditorium to host an anti-abortion event with guest speaker Joe Scheidler, director of the Pro-Life Action League. Carlson and Citizens for Life are claiming that they have been repeatedly refused the space because of their “message” and is suing under discrimination and violation of free speech.

Suing for violation of free speech is laughable since that is the first card all anti-abortion protesters, groups and activists pull out and wave in the faces of those who may disagree with their harsh tactics of protesting and shoving pictures of aborted fetuses in the faces of people walking anywhere near them. Whenever someone says something to them about what they are doing, they reach into their coat pockets and start waving the first amendment around while screaming “No, I’m practicing free speech, I can say whatever I want and there’s no law that says I can’t hold my five foot poster of aborted fetuses and the words ‘Abortion is Murder’ strewn all over it while your young child is walking with you.” To claim that they are being discriminated against when most of South Dakota, as we had seen with the abortion ban and flocks of pro-life protesters, is surely not the state in which you can easily get away with pulling the discrimination card.

The real reason why Citizens for Life were repeatedly denied the middle school auditorium space for their events and speakers is because the school district does not allow their facilities to be used for any sort of event with a political message. That, in my opinion, is admirable of the school district, since the two hottest topics and what we kill each other the most over are indeed politics and religion.

Another thing that bothers me each and every single time I read a news story like this one are the names of the people who run these groups; in this case, Allen Carlson and Joe Scheidler. I wonder how many times the two of them have been pregnant.

Tags: anti-abortion extremism, anti-choice, Citizens for Life, free speech, Pro Life Action League

Mike Gravel, the Only Candidate I Can Support

January 9, 2008 · Filed Under Politics ·

I have been asked several times about who I support in the upcoming election, and with politics in the news constantly as well as on the majority of blogs out there daily, I thought I would take the opportunity to voice my opinion on who my candidate of choice is.

Contrary to what many believe, especially since they are basing that belief solely on the fact that I’m not only female, but also a very involved and staunch feminist, I am not in total support of Hillary Clinton. I am also not rooting for Obama, so that clears up the “This is going to be a political post covering everything the media says” kind of post.

The candidate I can mostly agree with and support as of right now is former Alaskan Senator, Mike Gravel. Gravel, who is the oldest future president hopeful at 77 years old, oddly enough has the youngest, most rational mindset out of all of the candidates seeking presidency and in my opinion, would make the best damn president we have had in quite some time.

Mike Gravel is a very real, straight-forward, and of course, opinionated person. This country is going to hell in a hand basket and he isn’t afraid to tell you how much faster it will go there if something isn’t done about it. Very few people have actually paid attention to this man and what he has to say and that can mostly be blamed on the media and it’s obsession with Hillary and Obama. However, every time people hear him talk about the issues that we, as a country face, he gets an impressive applause. Perhaps we need to stop listening to what the media tells us to, hmm? If you don’t know much about Gravel, it could probably be because of the media (ahem, MSNBC) and the other politician’s sheer hatred towards him and what he has to say, since he has been excluded from debates left and right lately (Thanks a lot, free speech.) MSNBC has also said that Gravel has dropped out of the running, which is not true. Even when excluded from many debates, instead of just staying at home and chilling out in front of the television, he held an alternative debate of his own; now that shows dedication and the refusal to accept the media’s attempts at silencing him. If you don’t know much about this man, I encourage you to educate yourself on his background and his views on the issues today.

Mike Gravel 2008 presidential election legalize marijuana The Issues:

The War in Iraq: Senator Gravel’s position on Iraq remains clear and consistent: to commence an immediate and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops that will have them home within 120 days.

Reproductive Rights: Senator Mike Gravel supports a woman’s right to decide if and when to have children. He also supports a woman’s right to make the difficult decision about abortion without interference by government authorities. Comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education, including accurate information about contraception, can always be provided in order to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions.

LGBT Rights: Senator Gravel supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act. He supports expanding hate-crime legislation and opposes laws that allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or one’s gender identity or expression. Senator Gravel strongly opposes the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” legislation on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, as it restricts the rights of gay Americans. He opposes any state or national constitutional amendment that restricts the rights of the gay community.

Global Warming: Senator Gravel believes that global climate change is a matter of national security and survivability of the planet. As President, he will act swiftly to reduce America’s carbon footprint in the world by initiating legislation to tax carbon at the source and cap carbon emissions.

Progressive Taxes: Senator Gravel’s Progressive Fair Tax proposal calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax on new products and services.

Health Care: Senator Gravel advocates a universal healthcare system that provides equal medical services to all citizens, paid for by a retail sales tax (a portion of the Progressive Fair tax). Citizens would pay nothing for health benefits.

For a more detailed explanation of the issues and his view on them, visit his website!

Tags: 2008 election, environment, free speech, global warming, Iraq war, LGBT, marijuana, Mike Gravel, Reproductive Rights, taxes, universal health care