When a Wichita, Kansas doctor planned to begin offering abortion services in her clinic, the landlord
sued to stop her, on the grounds that the protests held and security risks posed by Wichita-based zealots Operation Rescue [the Fetuses and Who Gives a Fuck About the Women?] would be disruptive to the building's other tenants. To stop the suit and appease the landlord (and other tenants, who had supposedly told the landlord they would terminate their leases if the clinic began doing abortions, to avoid dealing with protesters outside the building), Dr. Means agreed not to provide abortions. The Religious Reich, of course,
declared this a grand success and were very smug about it.
And yet, when a library director in Wisconsin
cancelled a 40 Days for Lies Life group's planned showing of an anti-abortion film at the county library, because he was afraid pro-choice groups would protest and the showdown would interrupt normal library functions...the group whined to the county, and when the county stood behind the library director's decision and instead offered an alternate space for their showing, they sued to force the library to allow their showing to go as planned. The library has since
backed off and allowed the group's reservation of the showing room to be reinstated.
So when a pro-choicer is forced to stop or refrain from doing something because of threat of pro-life protests, that's awesome and a victory. But when an anti-choice group is forced to stop or refrain from doing something because of threat of pro-choice protests, that's grounds for a lawsuit. Have these fucking meat nuggets ever even
heard of the concept of fairness and equal treatment?
If they have, they're sure as fuck not showing it. Anti-choicers are absolute fucking bullies. And that, my friends, is why they're winning. They're willing to stoop to any low. Any tactic, no matter how extreme, is on the table, if they think it might achieve their goals, while we stand on principle and try to do the right thing.
How can we win, against utter unprincipled extremism, unchecked by any sense of self-awareness or human decency? I really don't know.
