The "peaceful, legal means" Operation Rescue uses

[catsittingstill]

Some people may wonder why I'm beating a dead horse.  Because as long as there is one person left who says "I'm quite relieve(sic) someone killed him. When I think of how many babies he killed everyday, I think it's a small price to pay." the horse isn't dead.

Now, I agree it is possible to honestly believe that a fetus is a human being. Say, when it's five weeks along, and a half inch long, worm shaped, obligate parasite, for instance. I don't buy it myself, but I can picture someone believing it, and while I disagree with this belief, I don't think someone is evil for holding it.

And I suppose it's possible that someone could weigh the wrenching choice of enslaving over a million innocent women a year versus murdering over a million obligate parasite human beings a year and come to the conclusion that the enslavement, while horrific, was necessary to save those lives, and a price they were willing, with deep regret, to force women to pay.  I disagree with this belief too, and like anyone staring the prospect of enslavement in the eye, I find it harder to sympathize with people who hold it.  But I guess they aren't  evil either.

I just don't think that, for example, Operation Rescue are those people.

Here's an article that explains some of the "peaceful, legal" means that Operation Rescue used, not just on George Tiller, but on anyone associated with him in any way--not just the people who worked at his clinic, whether guard, administrative assistant, or janitor, but on his dry cleaner and on taxi companies that women might hire to take them to his clinic.

Tactics like this:

A week later, hundreds of Phares' neighbors received an anonymous postcard of a mangled fetus. "This is abortion!" read the big block letters. "Your neighbor Sara Phares participates in killing babies like these."

Or this:

In Wichita, members of the group rummage through employees' garbage in search of incriminating information. They tail them around town as they run errands. They picket clinic staffers at restaurants while they're inside having dinner ....

Or this:

The collaborator list is constantly growing. Just a few days earlier, Newman added a place called Elite Cleaners after his aide-de-camp, Cheryl Sullenger -- who spent two and a half years in federal prison for conspiracy to firebomb a clinic -- spotted Tiller's wife, Jeanne, turning into a strip mall near her house.

But hey--I don't want to make this so long I have to cut it. The link above has the whole thing, and there's a good set of excerpts here at Hilzoy's blog.

These are some of the people who oppose abortion.  If Dr Tiller's colleagues re-open his clinic next week, these are the howling hypocrites who are going to continue their campaign of intimidation and harassment, against his grieving colleagues and family, against the secretaries and janitors, against the dry cleaners.  These are the people who are going to publish "collaborator's" addresses and phone numbers, to recruit their neighbors to make their lives miserable, and--oh so coincidentally, I'm sure--to make it easy for the next murdering bastard with a gun. 

Ladies and gentlemen; one face of the "pro-Life" movement.

What can you do? 

1) Write your Senators and Representative (get their contact info here: (enter zip to get names, then look in the lower right corner of the page their name-links produce)--they get astonishingly few letters, so your letter *does* make a difference) to repeal the "Partial-Birth Abortion" Ban, or, if you can't bring yourself to promote that, at least to rewrite it so that it specifically exempts women whose fetuses have died inside them, women whose fetuses have some serious and incurable medical condition that would prevent their living for more than a short time if delivered, and women whose health would be endangered by continuing their pregnancy.  That's only reasonable, right?

Because until that happens, there will be cases like this.

2) Donate to Medical Students for Choice (the site has "exceeded its CGI resources" at the moment so I'm guessing 1) that you'll have to wait a few days and 2) that response has been good so far--but that doesn't mean you should stop!)  If you want to do something right now, there's always Planned Parenthood.

Why?  Because Terror Shouldn't Pay.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Making what ought to be legal legal won't stop OR. (Yes, it's still *one of* the right things to do, but...)

What needs doing is counterterror. When Fred Phelps makes it known he's gonna protest a funeral, organized, peaceful motorcycle people step in and shield the families from the idiots. (I forget the exact name of the group, but they're out there.) The protest is rendered totally ineffective. We need the same kind of thing for these pinheads. When they do stuff? Render it moot.

Don't get me wrong; I don't advocate countering violence with violence unless no other option is viable. I would definitely advocate AGAINST the death penalty for the guy who shot Tiller, and I'm normally a hang-em-high kind of guy. (No martyrs here!) Just step in, get in front of them, and get between their toughs and the general public. Blot their message from the face of the earth. And if they *then* initiate violence? Well, as David Sheridan said, never start a fight, but ALWAYS finish it. No killing... but it's perfectly ok, once the battle is joined, to make them wish they weren't born. Words chosen very carefully.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Making what ought to be legal legal will help reduce the suffering of women. Which will drive Operation Rescue *absolutely batshit* so it's worth doing just for that.

If friendly bikers wanted to follow Operation Rescue operatives around with cameras, publish mugshots, addresses and phone numbers to the web so that nobody will hire one in the belief they are reasonable people, put up signs encouraging their neighbors to confront them with their evil ways "Jane Doe is stalking Janice Smith--she might stalk YOU next. She recruits innocent children to vilify Ms Smith. She might recruit your neighbors' children to vilify YOU next. She brings in outside agitators to picket her Ms Smith's spouse's workplace to get her spouse fired. She might do that to YOU next. Are you uncomfortable with that? Tell her so at (123) 456-7890" for example.

Maybe we can turn their own weapons against them?

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

p.s. the reason I'm so opposed to all this, outside of the violence itself? It uses *fear*. There are some things worse than death... living in enough fear is one of them.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes. George Tiller was murdered as a culmination of a systematic campaign of violence and the threat of violence. This was not some isolated nutcase.

[howeird]

I agree with all your arguments, but sadly they bring back to mind something my father said to me while we were watching TV reportage of some Middle East conflict back in the 70's: "You can't reason with fanatics".

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm going after the mushy middle. The ones who aren't fanatics. If they want to support the anti-Choice side, or send them money, well, can't stop them. But we *can* make sure they know exactly the sort of tactics and people they are supporting.

The horse isn't dead. It's pining for USA Christian shiara law

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

It is because of those who have been trying so hard to bring the Christian equivalent of sharia to America, to be force fed to all Americans, that I have drifted away from all churches, even Unitarian. I've had better success finding God on a sylvan riverbank far from other people anyhow.

And I'll accept that the fucktard terrorists are not a majority of Christians, but the silence, excuses and defensiveness of the real majority in the face of Christian terrorism causes me at least as much concern.

I'm glad that you're speaking out often and loudly, especially in your local area. It's important.

Re: The horse isn't dead. It's pining for USA Christian shiara law

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, when a similar harassment campaign was attempted in Oregon, the clinic's attempt to obtain stalking protective orders was denied by the Court of Appeals because it thought the campaign was primarily speech and didn't sufficiently call for violence.

The primary local harasser, however, is now deceased.

Re: The horse isn't dead. It's pining for USA Christian shiara law

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry the clinic couldn't get a protective order. "Look we can get at your spouse and your children; we can turn your neighbors and "friends" against you--any loony with a gun will know exactly where to find you or your children or your pets" does not strike me as protected speech.

As for the harasser being dead, well, everybody makes the world a better place. Some by living, some by dying.

Re: The horse isn't dead. It's pining for USA Christian shiara law

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I speak out here on LiveJournal. I don't want to be the sort of crazy neighbor who buttonholes people taking out their trash to strike up conversations about abortion rights, so I don't speak out much in person :-)

I'm with you on this - Eric Rudolph missed me

[patternbuilder.livejournal.com]

I got to talking with a distant relative who has 8 kids. He and wifey follow the quiverfull movement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull
He was against interfering with "God's will" in any way. So they'd ended up with 8.
He said that contraception was like murdering a baby. My response was to say that a fetus needs a uterus to survive. A baby breathes on its own. He blinked a little, then forged on with his rant. My extremely odd uncle wandered by later and muttered "he's crazy".

They always ignore the woman attached to the womb. I keep wondering what would happen if we actually had uterine replicators. How would it change?

Re: I'm with you on this - Eric Rudolph missed me

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I'm familiar with quiverfull. (shudder) His poor wife.

He was against interfering with "God's will" in any way.
I take it he oesn't take medicine for hypertension or cholesterol or heartburn? Wouldn't touch Viagra with a ten-foot pole? Because he believes in submitting *himself* as well as the women he controls to "God's Will?"

Yeah, thought so.

Calling fetuses "babies" is part of the advertising of the anti-Choice movement. They don't all extend "baby" beyond conceptus to male ejaculation, but it's a continuum.

In real life, everybody knows what a baby is, when the anti-Choicers aren't trying to muddy the issue. A baby is something that gurgles and coos and snuggles and nurses, breathes and opens big eyes wide with wonder on a brand new world. A baby is *not* a half inch long, worm shaped obligate parasite. The name for that is "fetus." Someone who tries to get you to mistake a fetus for a baby is like someone who tries to get you to mistake a car for the admiration of the opposite sex, or a house for the love of your family. They want you to make a mistake that will hurt you (or in this case women) and help them.

My crystal ball says uterine replicators would ignite a firestorm in the anti-Choice movement, splitting it into factions. You'll be able to tell which is which by what they do. The ones who honestly believe fetuses are human beings would be perfectly happy with uterine replicators, and would say so. The ones who are using "concern for babies" to enforce the double standard of sexual behavior will claim that the uterine replicators are the tools of the devil. With an audience not so sympathetic to magical claims, they'll say the replicators don't keep the "babies" safe. They will hire sympathetic "doctors" to do "studies" to muddy the waters, the way the tobacco companies did about cancer and the oil companies did about global warming. They will choke off any funding that would let women of modest means use uterine replicators to escape bearing unwanted babies. Simultaneously they will struggle to outlaw abortion since "uterine replicators make it unnecessary."

Did I miss anything?

Re: I'm with you on this - Eric Rudolph missed me

[patternbuilder.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree that it iw very often about controlling women's sexual behavior rather than care for the actual children or potential children.

Here's the part you missed, though the phrase "women he controls" is great foreshadowing.

The memorial service was held at a lakehouse with tons of space to run around, lots of food, and plenty of rafts, canoes, waterskis and other kid friendly fun. Wifey and 8 kids did not attend, though I'm sure they could have really enjoyed the outing. The kids that did attend took turns being towed on a raft behind a waterski driven by aforementioned odd uncle. (He keeps trying to convert us to his mail order religion)

We even got to making music and singing in the evening along their great rambling wrap around porch. I contributed Stray dog man by Bill Sutton. It went over well.

I remember the times as a kid when I attended other southern wakes/memorial services. I rarely knew who the grownups were sad for. But I atill remember seeing my living relatives and connecting with people I didn't see often enough. The quiver kids got more isolation and separation from mainstream culture that day.

Re: I'm with you on this - Eric Rudolph missed me

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

The quiver kids got more isolation and separation from mainstream culture that day.

That is very sad. But I think this is why a lot of the more right-wing religious types are so big on homeschooling. I think they're afraid if their kids meet more of the real world before their minds harden, they will realize some of the stuff they have been taught is just not true.

[kittyguitar.livejournal.com]

The whole "contraception is like murdering a baby" makes me emit an earth-shattering HUH?. If conception hasn't even occurred yet there's nobody there to kill.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

o/~ Eeeeeev'ry sperm is saaaaacred... o/~

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

If conception hasn't even occurred yet there's nobody there to kill.

Yes, exactly. It's perfectly obvious.

But let's face it, there are parts of the "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children" crowd that have so little contact with reality it is astonishing they can get enough traction to walk. I end up wondering why people who think they are moderate, and who are generally reasonable, would be willing to be associated with these loonies.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Good on you for doing the research--you've been much more thorough than me.

The Operation Rescue people somehow ignore that their religion began with a willing self-sacrifice. The objection to abortion among the early followers of Jesus (they were not Christians then) began very early (I believe the first record is from the second century CE), but I have never heard that the early Christians attacked abortionists. There is something horrible in this attack on sacred ground. It is as if they believe that their god has abandoned them, and so have turned to the devil.

Which means...I'm not sure, but I think it means something. It matters, somehow.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

What it means is that they don't think anyone is a "Real ChristianTM" unless they promote the enslavement of women.

If ordinary Christians don't want these slavers defining what "Christian" means to the rest of the world they need to hustle out into the marketplace of ideas and oppose the enslavement of women, vocally, persistently, and specifically as Christians.

I hope they will.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I think there's a bit more to it. I am reminded of remark (in Blish's *The Devil's Day*) about a black magician's final step into satanism. It is a huge reversal to go from "I will die for the good of all" to "I will kill for the good of all,"--a complete inversion of a central tenet of Christianity. I am also thinking that the early christian rejection of abortion as a medical practice might have had as much to with concerns about the mother as concerns about the fetus, but some research seems in order to that point--maybe some medical historian has already covered it.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

It is a huge reversal to go from "I will die for the good of all" to "I will kill for the good of all,"--a complete inversion of a central tenet of Christianity.

Yet this is basically the decision a person makes when entering the military, for instance, right?

I am also thinking that the early christian rejection of abortion as a medical practice might have had as much to with concerns about the mother as concerns about the fetus,

It seems likely that abortion would have been a very dicey attempt to use herbs like pennyroyal to poison the fetus without *quite* killing the woman. Another method would have been to hit the woman repeatedly in the abdomen, but again, it's very dicey whether you're going to kill the fetus or the woman first.

Back in those "kill a white cock at dawn and smear the blood on the south wall" days, "medicine" didn't have much to offer; that had to await the invention of science.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Soldiers don't try to win moral arguments by killing, though. Peaceful self-sacrifice has long been the Christian way of doing that. I'm still trying to think that through, but I think we're looking at people who have secretly decided that god is not powerful enough and so have turned to the devil.

Abortion, it turns out, is one of the oldest medical procedures. The Roman doctors did D&C, & were apparently fairly skillful at it. It would have been very painful, and of course they didn't know to sterilize their tools, though as a general rule Romans liked to keep things clean. When I find time, I want to know more...