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to the anti-abortion protesters at south park and university-morris: the least you could do is make eye contact as i glare at you each time i pass
—pro-abortion
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2009.
71 Comments
Did you just write a Catholic church bitch (or two), as well? Wow, religion and abortion. You forgot homosexuality.
Who’s the one with the awful manners? I think it’s the one doing the glaring OP, not the ones who aren’t reciprocating.
I don’t glare, but certainly don’t condone what they stand for and what they are doing.
at least they don’t influence as many people a day now that the crater has blocked off all non-residential/hospital traffic on that street.
Yes, they are hosers,
but unforunately they have every right to be hosers.
pro-abortion ? that sounds a bit unsettling
Glaring at someone for more than 3 seconds is considered to be a type of social attack on someone or a party. I’ve seen these protestors before and all they do is walk up and down the block reciting Hail Mary, the Lord’s Prayer and praying with their rosary beads.
OP – you’re looking for a confrontation and they’re not giving it to you. You lose(r).
I’m pro-choice and used to catch the bus on that block nearly everyday for three years but never once thought of attempting to bully a group of seniors and shy people.
This is ZZZ reminding you,
Help reduce the idiot population.
Have your children spade or neutered.
Pro abortion? Wow… That’s a statement. Quite different from pro choice, which I am.
I don’t like the anti abortionists who hold the pictures of fetuses’. Kids don’t need to see that shit.
From Human Giant :
“Hey Will Arnett! I hear you drive a Prius”
“Yeah, it’s a great car… if you want your car to suck. Between you and me I drive a hummer with a Prius shell on top – it gets worse mileage than a hummer and the back is big enough to perform an abortion in”
“Well..that’s good”
“Yeah, especially when you perform as many abortions as I do, which is a lot, because I love them!”
Is being pro-abortion the same as being pro-choice? It seems like being pro-abortion also limits a woman’s right to choose by forcing her to have one. I know of some guys who wanted to make their ex-girlfriend have an abortion who would probably also be considered “pro-abortion.”
Pro-abortion is definately not the same as pro-choice. Pro-choice means you respect each individual to decide for themself what they believe. Pro-abortion means you’re against pro-life, and that everyone should support abortion. Kind of like the exact opposite of pro-life with the whole “everyone must believe what I believe” thing.
And yeah, glaring sounds like worse manners than not making eye contact…
Qpmzw…No I’d consider those guys wanting a say in the mater. Men should at less have a choice to be financially liable in that same time frame. You hear women say, you’re still the father pay support, why doesn’t the father have a say on the choice? Is he not the father then? I still find that strange.
Pro-abortion can also just be a clumsy way of saying pro-choice.
It would be nice if we guys did have a say in whether or not a child that we could potentially have to pay child support for is born, true, but in the end it is ultimately the woman who carries and gives birth to it and solely the woman who makes the decision on whether or not she wants to keep it. We have the choice to wrap it up or keep it in our pants in the first place I guess, as hard as it may be sometimes!
I do wish there is some way that guys can have more of a say – it’s our sperm after all, but I think it’s a pretty tough argument and isn’t going to happen. What if, for example, the guy really wants the child to be born and the woman really doesn’t? There’s not much room for compromise there, it will still be 100% the woman’s decision. Hopefully MOST women will be reasonable and take the guy’s feelings and wishes into consideration, but there is no obligation for her to do so of course.
You are right though: a lot of women say “it’s MY baby and MY body, I can choose to do what I want with it” when it comes to what to do with the kid, but say “it’s OUR baby” when it comes to the guy having to look after it and pay child support. If sex didn’t feel so great, it would solve a whole world of problems. There really needs to be an anti-Viagra.
Story time: one friend was dating a woman who promised him she was on the pill and that if she was to ever get pregnant, she would get an abortion. What a fool he was! Surely enough, she stopped taking the pill without telling him, got pregnant and decided to keep the baby. They had a really bad break-up over it, and he is now stuck paying child support for the next 18 years. The saddest part is the little girl who is now stuck in the middle of it all thanks to two irresponsible adults.
Balls, the father does have a choice. He has a choice to wear a condom or get a vasectomy and prevent the conception of the unwanted financial liability.
Leave them alone OP. They have every right to express their opinion peacefully; which is what they’re doing. They are not obligated to make eye contact with you.
And women can keep their legs closed. And we know accident happen. I’m not saying he would get a choice on what she does with her body. What I’m trying to understand is why in the time frame, Can the father say yes- I’ll be there finically no matter what, or No- with bills and all I just can’t afford one at this time. Then the women has her say, and based on his agreement, if yes-all good. If no she is well aware of the situation she will be facing.
‘And women can keep their legs closed.’
And guys can keep their dicks in their pants.
‘There really needs to be an anti-Viagra.’
It’s called saltpeter. Nuns used to feed it to the priests and boys.
Until the baby is born, the woman gets to decide what will happen to her body.
Now, if the woman decides to give birth and adopt out, but the father wants custody of the child, I think that he should get it. This used to be rare…has it changed? Does the father have rights to claim the baby if the mother decides to adopt out?
They are protesters. They should be beat and gassed like the rest of them.
Why is the female given the choice to opt out of responsibility and men not? Aside from rape, health issues…, women can opt out because it’s not the right time for them, but not men. Why is that fair, hkm?
Saltpeter? Just tried it and it doesn’t work! Wanna have sex?
Joking, joking… or just saying that I’m joking so I don’t look like a perv.
OMG qpmzwonxeibcruv, we really need to get you a partner before your blueballs explode! Hey, did you ever watch a movie called Johnny Dangerously? It takes an in-depth look at your situation.
That’s alright, masturbation works fine for now, or for another few days anyway. It’s not that I’m not getting any, just not enough! Then again, it’s never enough.
I’ll check that “Johnny Dangerously” out.
Well Balls, men don’t have to deal with massive hormonal and physical changes in their bodies and face the sometimes fatal risks of gestating. 5 minute investment with orgasm< 9 month investment with melon coming out of a hole the size of a grapefruit.
I’m not saying that it is fair, but I am saying that forcing a woman to have an abortion or to give birth against her will is not a place men should trod. They do have a say before the pregnancy occurs, so if they have issues about the potential end result, they should abstain until marriage. It is an imperfect situation. I am pro-choice for men and women–you can have sex or not.
I walk past these people everyday. I’m pro-choice and a proud atheist and they don’t bother me a bit. They never speak to me (or anyone from what I have seen.) In my opinion as long as they keep praying, we have nothing to worry about. But if you’re so pissed of OP, why don’t you set up a Pro-Choice (Or Pro-Abortion, although I agree that doesn’t sound right) on the other side of the entrance.
qpmzwonxeibcruv,
There’s a group of people with your sex drive who get together every week = )
What irks me about being “pro choice” is the assumption that just because someone’s pro choice they would have an abortion themselves…I’m pro choice but there are VERY few circumstances where I’d have an abortion…
Anyway, leave them alone, OP — if they’re not causing confrontation with you, why would you want to cause a confrontation with them? Having differing opinions on things is what makes humans, human.
I don’t buy the argument that it’s the males problem for not keeping it their pants, it just as much the females decision, is it not? What would be the downfalls if men had the decision of opting out financially given it’s in that same period of time? Less reckless sex (not committed relationships)? More abortions or less? and would that lead to less social assistance candidates or more? I’m pro-choice though I’d like fewer abortions/social assistance candidates.
Thanks for the info Donkey.
Birth control begins before conception not after. ‘Termination’ …’Pro-coice’…’Pro-Abortion’…nice sterile terms for what it really is – choosing to end the life of a developing human being, one’s own child, perhaps even the only child one is ever able to conceive. Seems like the polar opposite of the essence of motherhood.
HKM, the name / location of this group is…? Are you a member?
Apparently there is a male birth control pill that is already here or coming soon. We men should stock up!
Oceanlady you do have a point there. I don’t want to get into this too much, but I had a girlfriend who had an abortion. It was actually a lot harder emotionally on both of us than we ever thought it was going to be, but at the same time neither of us were ready to be mommy and daddy (*shivers*).
Didn’t really read the thread, but I’m pro choice. A woman’s body is a woman’s body. It’s not mine or the government’s or those fucktard backward thinking conservative Harper loving assholes. Go do something useful you placard wielding zealots.
Wow OP, do you hate babies or something? I never really cared for that entire argument, but if you listen to US right wing radio (which I do for laughs) you’ll find that lately people are using abortion as a means to shoot down Obama’s entire health care reform plan.
i bet the women who need abortions barely notice the group of peaceful anti-abortion activists judging them (albeit silently)… glare away OP- those ignorant fuckers need to know what shame feels like.
Sorry Balls, biology is what it is. Women are the ones getting pregnant and are therefore the ones who get to call the shots after conception. Ideally, both partners would discuss the unplanned pregnancy together and decide what to do about it but, a woman’s body is her own and ultimately she is the one who has the power to decide. If the woman chooses to carry a pregnancy to term the man who fathered the child has a moral and legal obligation to support that child whether he is happy about it or not.
Oh please Oceanlady, spare us the inflammatory pro-life rhetoric.
Sorry Jai…didn’t mean to seem offensive but someone must speak for the unborn.
We all have the right to life. Anyone who thinks not should be glad their gestation wasn’t terminated.
It seems to me that a belief that aborting fetuses is morally wrong could be partially predicated on a belief that we get “one shot at life.” Have you ever considered that underlying assumption?
Last summer I was walking in downtown Fredericton and was subjected to several large posters of bloddy fetuses being paraded up and down the street. This was down the street from a daycare and there were all kinds of children present. Not cool. I respect yoru right to protest but sometimes it crosses the line.
No worse than PETA etc with their white coat pictures.
Wow there were anti-abortion protesters!? Wish I had known about/couldn’t seen that. Were they from Westboro?? haha.
“We all have the right to life. Anyone who thinks not should be glad their gestation wasn’t terminated.”
meh, since I wasn’t cognitive or coherent until years after I was born, I wouldn’t have known the difference.
PS, how many foster kids have you currently got Oceanlady? If every conception were kept, there would be a lot of full orphanages just waiting for you to pick out another little tyke.
Ya, I know, equality only when it suits the woman.
Balls, there is no such thing as ‘equality’ when it comes to one person’s right to make decisions that concern their own body.
The amount of physical investment in pregnancy isn’t equal between men and women. So why should the choice be equal?
It would be interesting to take a poll on these anti-abortion protestors, to see how many of them have adopted children.
especially once they realize that the alternative would be these that even these crazy crack-heads having all these children who would
1. be giving terms for the idiotic parents to collect cheques from the taxpayers… ie, THEM as well as us …. and
2. potentially huge medical bills if there are ‘complications’ with the children due to any number of reasons… which are also payed for by taxpayers.
They essentially asking to increase taxes.
A woman can opt out if she doesn’t want any strings to guy. If the guy doesn’t want any strings attached he’s dammed. Then the excuses comes –he should have keep his pants on. If woman opt out because it’s not the right time, why can’t we say she should have kept her legs closed. If I was consensual why are women given full rights to the guys pocket book for 18 years. She would still have a say to what she wants to do with her body. It wouldn’t be equal but at least he’d have a say on a life altering event. It’s a one way trap.
Well Balls, it suits me to be paid equally for the same work as my male counterparts, but I’m not.
It wasn’t that long ago that men were hunted down and forced to marriage the woman they impregnated, plus care for the woman and child for the rest of their lives. I think things have progressed in your favour since then.
But you complain about it constantly as an equality issue.
What I want to do with my body (even while pregnant)? That is a human rights issue.
Holding men liable for 18 years is the issue; you would still have the choice to do what you please with your body. Men are still hunted down by law to pay support are they not?
Balls, the bottom line is that if this is a real concern for you, you will not risk taking a chance that an accident will happen. Yes, the female can also decide not to have sex. But, if both of you agree to take the chance than both of you have to be held responsible. If you will not do it together, then (at the very minimum) one you will raise the child and one of you will pay towards it’s upkeep. Technically, the laws are there to protect the child not the man or the woman. It is the best that we can do.
Ya, must be nice to know you can opt out if there is an accident.
There are not many woman I know who would count themselves lucky to be the one who gets to make this decision. Both solutions demand conflict, pain and sacrifice for the woman. If the woman could switch places with you but would have to agree to help to raise the baby financially (at the very least), I am sure that many woman would opt for this instead. Just as I am pretty sure, more men would not be so eager to abort.
Don’t get me wrong, I do realize that it is not a nice position for a man to be in either.
Which is my point…man or woman…there are no winners in this situation.
I understand where Balls is coming from though I don’t necessarily agree with it on all levels. It’s been clear for a long time now that the rights of the woman supercede those of the man in terms of custody issues however; I think the intention was for the best interest of the child(ren).
I agree that both choose to have sex, and both understand the consequences, however, I don’t believe pregnancy has the same result for both parties. Men don’t have to go through the 9 month process. And while I agree on some level that perhaps not all men should be held accountable (I know a lot of people might interpret that incorrectly — what I mean is in instances when men are essentially fooled into thinking that both parties are being as safe as possible in an effort to avoid pregnancy..and yes I realize the safest way is no sex, but that suggests celebecy and I think the pedo-priest bitch gets into that..) it is sincerely my belief that both the man and woman should be financially responsible for the upbringing of the child. Because in the end, the child had/has no choice at all.
In saying that, I don’t think there is such thing as equal (why would society have the problems it’s having if there was equality?) The perception of equality? Yes. Actual equality in practice? Not a chance. Sucks for everyone =(
Balls, you are treating child support as an entitlement of the mom. It’s the entitlement of the kid. Deal with it. If you’d like to opt out, easy> VASECTOMY. Then you can have all the sex you want. You are NEVER going to get the right to make a woman have a possibly traumatic surgery that she doesn’t want. What kind of society would we live in if we forced medical procedures on people? Oh wait, one-child policy CHINA. That’s really the Canada that I want to live in.
someone has bitter balls.
I find it sad that pro-life advocates put the rights of potential human beings over the rights of the actual human being facing an unplanned pregnancy. Nobody should have the right to dictate what anyone else does with their body or their health.
There was a time in our society when women had little to no choice of what to do when an unplanned pregnancy occurred. Abortion was not allowed by law and if a woman wanted to procure one her only option was an illegal abortion. Illegal abortions were often provided by persons with no medical training and women frequently died or suffered permanent injury from the procedure. Women could keep their child if their partner chose to marry them or the man could wash their hands of the situation and walk away with little or no responsibility, while their unwed, pregnant partner was treated as a pariah. While the man who fathered their child could go on living his life as usual, pregnant unmarried women were treated with contempt by society, confined to a maternity home for the last few months of their pregnancies and ultimately gave birth to a children that they were often coerced and sometimes forced into relinquishing for adoption. The shame, humiliation and trauma that these women endured is such that even decades later many are left unable to even speak about what happened to them. There is a very moving book that tells the stories of what women in this situation went through called “The Girls Who Went Away” by Ann Fessler, it’s available from the public library and is an eye opening read. Personally, I think that the idea of treating women as incubators with no say over what happens to their own body is disgusting and I’m glad out society has evolved beyond that way of thinking.
Good post Jai, our society has change dramatically. Now in our society men have no choice of what to do when an unplanned pregnancy occurs. While probably for the best it still leads to emotions of no control of a life altering event that affects two parties. Nosmoking, I wouldn’t want Canada to become a dictatorship like China.
And I don’t expect that -women have rights and men have responsibilities- to changes, form a post on a bitch website. Yes, onnogogo, I assume women felt bitter when they had no say as well.
While life’s not fair, and there are no easy answers, it still doesn’t make us emotionless.
Once conception has occured it is no longer just the woman’s body. With a developing human being inside it the woman is now sharing her body. Where would we all be if our mother’s had decided to no longer share their bodies with us?
If a woman decides to engage in activities which we all know will produce a child, accepting responsibility towards that child is the mature response. There are other options besides intercourse that will not result in pregnancy.
Abortion is not a responsible solution…just the quickest one. But it’s still killing one’s own unborn child…no matter how one twists it to suit their agenda.
What if the pregnancy is forced on the woman through rape?
What’s going on here? Abortion debate? Never seen one of these before…
Of course rape is traumatic and horrible, but a child conceived that way still has the right to life. It is not that poor innocent baby’s fault it was not conceived under ideal circumstances.
If not wanted by the mother, many childless couples would gladly cherish the child. I know of someone who was conceived like this and they never once have wished they’d been aborted!
“Where would we all be if our mother’s had decided to no longer share their bodies with us?”
Oceanlady, you make no worthy point here. You could equally say “What if our fathers had decided to wear a condom?” While the Catholic Church would fully support that statement to condemn contraception, any thinking person recognizes it as ludicrous hypothesizing that has no bearing on the matter at hand.
Although obviously (and unfortunately) not always the case, when after serious, informed consideration, the decision is made to abort an unwanted pregnancy, it very much IS a responsible choice for both the woman and the potential resulting life. There is absolutely no need for a woman to suffer through nine months of a potentially physically and mentally devastating pregnancy (not to mention take responsibility for another person for 18+ years) in an attempt to adhere to someone else’s moralistic judgements, nor is there a need for more unwanted babies to be born into this world. Abortion is not a modern or unnatural concept, despite what sanctimonious folks like yourself would like to believe.
One more thing: the term “unborn child” is an oxymoron. A child is defined as being a human being between the stages of birth and puberty. Enough with your self-righteous pro-lifer sermons, please.
If there really were that many childless couples out there looking to adopt we wouldn’t have so many children in foster homes and living in poverty and on the streets.
I think that if choice were the widely accepted norm, that it would lead to being able to have open conversations with each other and doctors involved about the father opting out of the childs life if the mother decided to have the baby. It would probably lead to actual binding agreements about each partners role in the event of an unwanted pregnancy. I’d imagine you could actually have something drawn up now that would leave the father free of responsibility as long as both parties agreed on the terms before the accidental conception.
Meow…if your father had worn a condom there would be no pregnancy to have to abort. Your own gestation and birth is the result of your mother NOT choosing to eject you into the trash bin.
There is no comparison between preventing the conception to begin with via contraceptives and opting to end an already begun pregnancy. It is like comparing apples to oranges…sure, they are both fruit but the similarities stop there.
The court’s definition of when a child’s life begins VS the scientific and moral defintions will always put people at odds over this issue.
“Enough with your self-righteous sermons please”? I do not seek to preach. I merely speak for the rights of the unborn who are unable to speak for themselves. In doing so I do not deny others the right to speak their piece. Please allow me the same courtesy whether you agree with my point of view or not.
Thanks, just wondering, Oceanlady.
“if your father had worn a condom there would be no pregnancy to have to abort”
Not completely true, Oceanlady. There is no fail proof method of contraception, accidents can and do happen, and if a woman has taken reasonable precautions to prevent pregnancy and yet becomes pregnant, I think that for her to be forced to carry that unplanned and unwanted pregnancy to term is unreasonable and unnecessary. I don’t believe that abortion should be used as a method of contraception, but for some it is an appropriate choice given their particular situation. And while I don’t believe that a fetus is entitled to the same rights as the woman who carries it, I do regard it as special and not something to be casually discarded.
I’m not attempting to silence you, Oceanlady, but I do take issue with the inflammatory way in which you’ve decided to portray women who choose abortion: as immature, irresponsible people, and murderers of innocents. Talk about twisting things to suit an agenda! Have you ever taken the time to speak honestly with a woman who has chosen abortion? The ones I know consider it one of the most difficult decisions they have ever made, have wrestled with immense feelings of guilt, but ultimately regard it as the right decision made in their circumstances.
I have no problem with the fact that you hold your beliefs on the subject, Oceanlady. It’s when you try to push your beliefs onto others, using derogatory rhetoric in an attempt to shame others into sharing your moral stance, that I object to you speaking your piece.
Ocean lady, how many kids have you adopted?? Have you ever put a kid up for adoption?? It is such an easy answer for someone who has never done it!! Giving up a child for adoption isn’t as simple as you make it out to be. Why should we force a woman who was raped to carry the fetus to term?? So we can remind her everyday for 9 months that she was raped?? That’s so fair!!!
The people who are protesting outside the hospital now are part of a Catholic Church sponsored event called 40 days of prayer or something.
I wonder what this group would think if people started gathering outside their church protesting against the child sex abuse scandals by priests, or their stance on homosexuality or not letting women into the priest hood. I bet they wouldn’t like that!!
Personally I think these people should be ashamed of themselves. Having an abortion is a very private and emotional thing for women to go through and having a bunch of people out harassing them doesn’t make it any easier.
Guilt and fear mongering people is not going to help end abortions. As long as women can have unplanned pregnancies there will be abortions whether it is legal or not!! Education and providing safer and easier access to birth control will reduce the number of abortions.
“Every Mother Willing, Every Child Wanted “Dr. Henry Morgentaler
I’m tempted to set up there with a Hoover vacuum cleaner and a composter. Do these anti abortion people have nothing better to do? Why not just pay the pregnant chick for her un-born baby to save it if they are so against abortion?
Roman holiday…what makes you think I don’t speak from personal experience? How many children have you adopted?