Earlier this week Cosmopolitan.com published an article titled “Abortion Clinic Protesters: ‘Sidewalk Counselors’ or ‘Sidewalk Terrorists’?” Intrigued by the idea of these supposed “Sidewalk Counselors” I read the article and watched the video that goes along with it. The article turned out to be more detailed, informative and enraging then I ever expected.
The article focuses around the Supreme Court ruling that in Massachusetts the “buffer zone,” where protestors have to stay 35 feet away from the clinic, was overruled.
To start off, the protestors, which is what they really are, are calling themselves counselors. While none of the protestors have had any formal education in being a counselor, they believe that simply informing a woman of all of her choices is considered “counseling.” Thank you for your pamphlet, but I could have easily printed that out online myself, or better yet gone to an educated counselor without feeling uncomfortable. If someone were impersonating a doctor people would lose their minds, but when someone is impersonating a counselor it seems to be no big deal.
Reading about the women who were only going to Planned Parenthood for a check up or birth control brought me back to when I was scared out of my mind going into Planned Parenthood for the first time and seeing men, roughly in their 50’s, standing outside the building with signs and shirts that had sayings such as “Don’t kill your baby” or “You have other options.” Meanwhile, I was just trying to get birth control for the first time with my mom.
I not only sympathized with the woman in this article, but I also wanted to scream at the women in the video who said one way to control abortion rates was “not to hop into bed with every Tom, Dick and Harry”. I’m sorry, but did she just assume that because I am not prepared to be a mother and have a legal right to choose this, insinuate that I am promiscuous and hop into bed with every Tom, Dick and Harry?
One, who I decide to sleep with, is absolutely none of your business.
Two, because I am choosing not to become a mother for my own personal reasons is again, none of your business.
Three, if I wanted your advice for my personal decisions I would ask for it.
There is a difference of right to free speech and harassment. Having a woman I don’t know chase me down the street with a pamphlet telling me not to abort my child when I’m attempting to get birth control I would say is leaning more towards harassment.
A quote that really got me was from Father Andrew Beauregard, where he said “the fullness of being a woman is being a mother.” I have a problem with that statement. The fullness of being a woman is not being a mother; I know plenty of strong women that have chosen not to have kids and they feel very fulfilled. If I were to choose to not have children one day I would not appreciate someone telling me that because I am not going to be a mother, I will not find fulfillment in my life. Women can find fulfillment from their jobs, passions, or really anything that they want. I don’t see men who don’t want children getting this much criticism, so why should women?
I guess my question was answered in one of the last quotes that had me burst into laughter. “[Women] had equality,” one of the protestor’s statements about the 1950’s began. “But they had to be obedient to their husbands. That’s where equality comes: where the mother stayed home and raised the children in God’s light, and the husband worked, and everything was great. When I grew up, there were no problems.”
Yes, you read that right. Clearly someone wasn’t paying attention in the 50’s to realize that there were more than a few problems in that decade. Also, excuse me, but I will never be obedient to my husband. When I am in a relationship and choose to get married I will do so, and we will have mutual respect and support for each other. If I choose to work, I will. If we both want to have careers we will figure out a way to make it work. I dare a man to tell me to be obedient to him.
The overall feeling of the article made me very concerned for these protestors, who actually think that by chasing women down the street and screaming at them they will change their mind or even want to stop and talk to them. Oregon no longer has a buffer zone law and I think that needs to be changed. While the Supreme Court is worried about these “Sidewalk Counselors” first amendments rights, what about a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body without being harassed and attacked?
Check out Cosmo’s video below, and let us know what you think in the comments!