Newsgroups: alt.censorship
Subject: Re: Operation Rescue
From: daniel.moran@pcb.batpad.lgb.ca.us (Daniel Moran) 
Date: 6 Sep 92 17:34:00 GMT
Reply-To: daniel.moran@pcb.batpad.lgb.ca.us (Daniel Moran) 
Distribution: world
Organization: The Batchelor Pad PCBoard ~ Long Beach, CA ~ +1 310 494 8084

DM>You're correct; you must separate actions from words. But let's note
DM>that what Operation Rescue does is not an exercise of free speech
DM>they DC surround and blockade clinics that are legally in operation
DM>engaging in trespass on the clinic's property, and

JA>>All this is true, and also was true of the sit-in protestors of the
JA>>'60s.

DM>harrassment of the clinic's customers.

JA>>Harassment? How many examples of this have you actually *seen*
JA>>personally? I would say that the majority of these protests are
JA>>peaceful, and not

You'd say that, would you? I spent two and half years working with the
Clinic Defense Alliance in Los Angeles; I've *seen* personally several
dozen such instances of harrassment. What would you call it when a
non-English speaking woman is *grabbed,* enclosed by a group of
the Operation Rescue fundamentalists, and hustled away from the sight of
the clinic. None of the OpRescue people with her spoke Spanish; the
woman was in tears and shaking wildly when she was rescued *by the
police.* This happened at a "rescue" held in downtown Los Angeles; I saw
it with my own eyes, and it is far from being the only such incident I
can come up with, though it is one of the most extreme.

DC>>harassing at all.  However, many people on the pro-abortion side feel
DC>>that even walking in front of someone with a sign is harassment.

I am not one of those people. However, when I am standing in front of a
clinic door, hands linked with twenty other defenders, and *300* of the
OpRescue people assemble around us and shove us into the glass walls of
the clinic, then yes, I do feel somewhat harrassed. I have left such
events with bruises on my ribs...

DM>Let's throw in the death threats that have been directed at
DM>the owners of such clinics, and the staff that work therein, and we
DM>clearly are not dealing with anything recognizable as "speech," of
DM>sort.

JA>>What death threats? When? Where? Many people on the pro-abortion
JA>>side mention these, but I have not seen anyone produce any
JA>>attempt at evidence of these things. Just a newspaper clipping
JA>>that *documents* one (not just allegations) would be nice.

You haven't looked. Clearly you don't read Time or Newsweek magazine;
within the last year they've both run lengthy articles on this subject.
Time ran one not too many months ago, listing *numerous* examples, of
doctors who had received death threats against not just themselves, but
their family and their children as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by "documents," at that. I imagine you'd
refuse to accept the statements of the doctors involved? And since most
of those involved with Operation Rescue are unlikely to admit to having
engaged in such behavior, where does that leave us? These are, after
all, anonymous death threats. If the only *documentation* you'll accept
is a confession by OpRescue personnell, we're just chasing our tails
discussing the subject.

JA>>Were you in Buffalo in April? Which side was chanting and
JA>>shouting and blocking the doors?

Nope, I wasn't in Buffalo. But if you try to tell me that the pro-choice
people who *were* there blocked the doors to their own clinic, I'm going
to call you a liar. Next you'll suggest that we've been firebombing our
own clinics, in a clever ploy to confuse the general public.

 
Newsgroups: alt.censorship