Every couple months or so there's a group that gathers in the center of our town on Sunday afternoon and silently stands on the sidewalk with anti-abortion signs. "Abortions hurt women" and the classic "abortion is murder" were among the signs present.
I live right in the middle of town, so the downtown sidewalks and benches are my "front yard", as I sometimes say. In other words, these right-wing anti-choice protesters are right outside my window. Their target is probably a Planned Parenthood discreetly tucked in the second floor of one of the old downtown brick buildings with no outside signage, as well as the busiest intersection in town.
More below the orange squiggly.
Usually I tolerate it and leave them alone. I let them stand there, people honk in approval of this group's appeal to put government between a woman and her doctor, then the group has a short prayer on the courthouse lawn and is gone, to return in a couple months or so.
I'm not exactly sure what was different this time. I think I must have saw some particularly ugly anti-choice statement on TV or the Internet. Maybe it was the recent right-wing attempts to destroy Planned Parenthood and take away necessary health care for women, or rightwing influences moving to force abstinence-only education on students.
There was a time when I thought that it was wrong for me to get involved in this, that this wasn't my fight, my issue. I originally thought the abortion issue was something for women to decide, and for men to stay out of. But I looked out the window and saw how how many men were there in this crusade to kill a woman's right to necessary healthcare. About half the group were men. I got angry as I thought about male politicians and church leaders pushing for fetal "personhood", pushing for laws that would sentence women to long prison sentences for abortion, or even for seeking birth control and other contraception methods. I thought about guys who bomb abortion clinics and assassinate doctors in desperate acts of terrorism, and so-called "pro-life" acolytes who admire those terrorists as heroes.
Before I knew it, I already had my coat and shoes on. I got my bike out and took it down the stairs to ground level. I emerged from my front door and yelled out "You're in my front yard!" Sure, they have a First Amendment right to protest and say what they want to say in the public space that is my front yard. And therefore, so do I. The protesters were spread out on two blocks on the main street. I started riding on the wide sidewalk behind them. Two blocks up, cross the street, two blocks back down, cross the street again, one lap. I counted each lap and yelled out a little message each time I rode around the protesters.
"One lap, for womens' rights! We won't let you repeal that one!"
"Two laps, do you really think we should put women in jail for life for abortion?"
"Three laps. Send 'em all to Marysville, let God sort 'em out!" (Marysville is the womens' prison in Ohio.)
"Four laps! Build jobs, not more prisons for women!"
"Five laps, for small government! No government between a woman and her doctor!"
"Six laps for an end to war! I thought you guys were pro-life!"
"Seven laps for universal health care! Health care is a basic human right! You guys are pro-"life", aren't you?"
A few of them looked at me, but no one said anything, staying true to the "silent protest" theme. I mostly left the women alone and focused on the men in the group. The corner where I yelled out my lap counts and corresponding messages, four older guys were holding up signs. After about lap six the already gray Ohio sky was getting darker. The wind was kicking up, and I could feel the humidity in the the cool October air.
"Eight! Did you guys pray for rain before you got here? Because it looks like rain!"
"Nine laps for an end to poverty! Remember that which you do to the least of your brothers..."
"Ten laps! I'm not tired yet, are you?"
Although the subject matter of this protest and my two-wheeled counter protest was serious, I did try to have a bit of a sense of humor. Mimicking "The Count":
"Eleven! Eleven laps! Ah Ah Ahhh!!"
"Twelve laps! And I got a few dozen more in me!"
I started feeling a few drops of cold rain at lap 13. The protesters started looking around and getting restless. I didn't care how bad the weather got, I was determined too outlast them.
14 laps, now they're crossing the street, walking to the courthouse lawn.
15 laps, They're circling up for a prayer, the rain picks up and really starts coming down.
16 laps, Nevermind the prayer, now they're running to their cars, using their signs to shield themselves from the rain.
17 laps, minivans and large SUV's filled with rightwing protesters quickly leave.
Three more rainy laps for good measure, to make sure they're all gone before I go back upstairs, and to make it an even 20. I was cold and soaked, but satisfied.
I dragged my bike back upstairs, and my girlfriend met me at the door. "Don't track mud in here. Dry that bike off before you bring it in here."
Then she smiled and joked "So you're that crazy guy I was watching on the bike out there. By the way, I made you lunch."
I ate my lunch and looked out front, and watched the loud trucks sloshing through the rain and listened to the loud mufflers and honking horns of our working-class town, familiar noise untainted by the deafening silence of misinformed anti-choice protesters. Since that October, the view from my front window has been free from Sunday rightwing protesters. If they come back some Sunday this spring or summer, I'll have my bike ready.
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In closing, I still think this is an issue for women to decide for themselves, without government interference. As for a man's role in this, when I see men saying that women who have an abortion are "murderers" that should be sent to jail, and then implying that we shouldn't educate young men and women about contraception... well, it ticks me off. It's an assault on women's rights. It takes two to tango, buddy. And I think a man's role in this is to help prevent abortions by being informed about contraceptive methods. Have the "Talk" with your girlfriend about what would happen in the event of an accidental pregnancy. I think it's also a man's job to speak up when other men are pushing an ideology that hurts women, like the anti-choice movement.
Just because I'm pro-choice doesn't mean I "like" abortion. Men need to understand their role in family planning, and thanks to recent cultural changes and the rise of Christian-influenced abstinence-only education, it seems that boys nowadays aren't learning the realities and responsibilities of sex and fatherhood. Boys are growing up and not being given the knowledge necessary to become better men. Culturally, our country is moving backwards, and it scares me. If doing a few laps around the block will let some anti-abortion rightwingers know that I don't buy in to their ideology, that I won't let them roll our country back to the 1890's, and that I trust women to make their own medical decisions, then I'll do it.
Grease up your chain, pump up your tires, and let's go.
By the way, I was reminded of this October incident and inspired to post this diary by some other diaries about the abortion issue that have popped up this week, particularly this one. I really didn't expect to be writing a diary for the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and "Trust Women Week", but what the hey. Women's issues are human issues, and affect everyone.