I first had planned to comment on a article I had read on Click on Wales on anti abortion demonstrations in St Mary's Street, Cardiff outside of the abortion clinic there. the article itself focused itself on the evangelical group where demonstrating there "Forty Days for life" making opposition to abortion as a purely religious matter (a bunch of crazes fundies imposing their religious beliefs on a rational majority).
However this phenomenon is quite common in the US (where the Planned Parent clinic at 20th and Vine in Denver has been "picketed" since 1967 when abortion was legalized in Colorado, The Cardiff pro choice group should count themselves lucky). Its true that these groups consists of Roman Catholics and conservative Evangelicals however not all. The leader of the Denver pro life movement who was involved in those particular pickets (Terry Sullivan) was himself was involved in the Civil Rights and anti war movements in the 1960s, and though a Catholic opposed abortion because he saw it as an extension of the Civil Rights movement (as did Michael Harrington the author of "the Other America" the defining work on poverty in the 1960s).
It should be noted that in the Roe V Wade decision that one of the dissenting justices was Byron White a Kennedy liberal and Episcopalian hardly your example of a crazed fundamentalist. In his dissent his objection he opposed it because he saw no reason for a abortion for reasons of convenience.
Hannah Austin's article claims that women do not make their choice lightly yet an article in the Telegraph said that 1 in 5 abortion clinics break the law on abortions giving them for conveniences sakes ( sex of child etc), which almost invalidates her claim.
I would say that 40 days are doing a duty and they have a right to protest/
finally my last point some years ago I attended a dinner with David Steel in a restaurant in St Mary's st by some strange coincidence, he authored the Bill which legalized abortion in the UK (which was for health grounds) however he also as a Liberal would believe that 40 Days had a right to free speech and so should the pro choice group.
One in five abortion clinics breaks law - Telegraph
No comments:
Post a Comment