A buffer zone, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is a bubble or a zone around the door of an abortion clinic which protesters (and counter protesters) may not cross. Some countries, states and cities have bubble zones, which state that a person approaching a clinic has an imaginary "bubble" of x number of feet around them which can not be violated. Others have a specific zone of x feet from the entrance where protesters and counter protesters may not cross, which local to me are painted on the ground and maintained by the municipality.
I have been lucky enough to not have to deal with a bubble buffer zone, although I've heard the stories. Most bubble buffer zone laws have exceptions to the bubble that say a protester may approach the clinic patient if the contact is invited. The laws are murky enough that in many cases eye contact may be enough to be construed as invitation for contact. I can attest that walking through a group of protesters is a scary and confusing experience and one could easily make eye contact if the right question or provocation is made.
The buffer zones I do have experience with are ones that are a fixed distance from a clinic entrance, marked by a painted line on the ground. In theory the laws are written that the protesters must be a minimum of the buffer zone away, but in reality the protesters are right up against that line. I have experienced one protester. I have experienced three. I have experienced ten. I have been lucky enough to never have experienced the once monthly day when an anti-choice group busses in a large number of people and barricades are set up, but I can only imagine. One protester or two is annoying, even irritating, but not scary. Ten is frightening. More would be nightmarish...which is exactly what they're trying for--to scare people out of getting an abortion; not giving a damn that most of the people walking through the door are just there to refill their birth control (without which there will be more abortions...)
On paper 35 feet, which is the law in my home state sounds like a reasonable distance. But crossing it while people are all heckling you, chanting the lord's prayer, screaming that you're going to hell, that you're going into Satan's den, that you're a murder...makes you realize that something closer to 100 feet would be better.
The anti-choice faction says that buffer zones interfere with their right to free speech, but I don't understand how. If they have to stand across the street, that only affects where they're expressing their opinions, not that they can't express them. I spent 8 years disagreeing with President Bush's policies, but I wasn't allowed to protest in the middle of the Oval Office...or even on the grounds of the White House. If I had wanted to protest, I would have had to do it outside of a specific buffer zone as decided by the Secret Service. Protesting where I was told to protest would not have quieted my opinion or silenced my voice, only directed where it was heard.
The argument that it's affecting their free speech is smoke. If they can't harass the women going in, then there's no enjoyment, no zing to their protest, no chance of reaction. For example, with a bigger buffer zone, two weeks ago a protester wouldn't have been able to provoke a patient going into a Planned Parenthood clinic to the point where she punched the protester, which then allowed the protester to have the patient arrested and the anti-choice group the protester was a member of to publicly declare victory and get media attention locally and on their website.
While we're on the topic of the protesters, can I just say how irritated I am with the sign holders who just LUUUUUUUURVE their signs that say the heart starts beating at 20 days with the mini baby in the picture on the sign. WRONG WRONG WRONG. The heart starts to beat somewhere around the end of the 5th week of development...around day 35. And at that point, instead of the mini baby on your sign, the embryo looks like a comma. I should know; I have two different ultrasounds from two different pregnancies both dating 6weeks 1 day and that's what you can see. It doesn't even start to look like anything but a comma or a weird lizard like thing until around 12-13 weeks. You're also lying about post-abortion trauma--the APA says so.
There is no law that says they have to say anything true, but I wish that more than 3 states would make sure that there was a law that made them scream their lies from a distance, even if it's only 35 feet. Because free speech doesn't mean the freedom to stand between me and the door to the clinic and yell at me.
How does that line go? Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."
Don't people have anything better to do than harass other people? Think of all the energy wasted, that could be put to good use doing something really constructive. Sigh.
Posted by: Christina LMT | October 30, 2009 at 05:07 PM
Here's the thing...it's not that I don't think that there's something to the pro-life argument, even as I disagree with it. But if you want to support the cause, why not do something like volunteer to support young women who chose to have kids rather than abort them and are now young mothers who need some guidance in how to parent, or who need support while they gain job skills? Or lobby to make adoption easier in this country? Or foster a child? Protesters are just asswipes.
Posted by: DN | October 30, 2009 at 10:43 PM