United States Supreme Court gives anti-abortionists license to harass women outside clinics
Published on Intrepid Report, by Bev Conover, June 27, 2914.
How would you feel if you went to buy some beer or wine for a party and encountered a group of strangers blocking the entrance to a liquor store and shouting about the evils of alcohol and when you tried to walk around or through them, they kept blocking your way, telling you that beer and wine are the work of the devil and they are trying to save you from his clutches? More than likely, you would be inclined to call the police, as risky as that can be these days.
Yet, the US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled, in striking down Massachusetts’ 35-foot buffer zones around abortion clinics, it’s okay to subject women entering an abortion clinic to such harassment in the name of “free speech.”
Never mind that abortions and liquor are legal. Okay, that’s a bad analogy but what compares to the hell the anti-abortion protesters put women through?
However, when it comes to political speech and the First Amendment right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances, the court has upheld herding people into so-called “free speech zone” far from where the people they are trying to reach can see or hear them.
In a 9-0 decision in Wood et al. v. Moss et al., Justice Ruth Ginsberg wrote, “People are not at liberty to speak whenever, however, and wherever they please,” adding, ‘In that regard, we have recognized that securing the safety of the president is a vital concern.”
Earlier this year, this same court ruled that military commanders have the right to remove protesters for cause (however they define “cause”) from designated “free speech zones.”
So when the alleged “safety” of the president, not to mention his/her comfort, is concerned, the only free speech of protesters allowed is where it can’t be seen or heard, and when military commanders decide there is “cause,” they can shut down free speech in designated zones, but the safety and comfort of a woman seeking a legal abortion is of no concern, therefore the anti-abortionists can harass away—cajoling, praying, condemning … //
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Links:
US flying armed drones over Baghdad – official, on Russia Today RT, June 27, 2014: US officials also told Reuters on Friday that a joint US-Iraq operations center in Baghdad is set to open next week, and will be staffed by about 90 personnel …;
America’s Marijuana Revolution: Ganjapreneurs Hit the Jackpot, on Spiegel Online International, by Anne Seith in Denver, Colorado, June 27, 2014 (Photo Gallery): Since the legalization of marijuana in two US states in January, entrepreneurs and investors have been seeing green. Observers believe the industry will grow rapidly and may even rival the Dot.Com boom of the 1990s …;
EU Standing Up For Corporate Interests Instead Of Human Rights, on ZNet, by Lúcia Ortiz and Anne van Schaik, June 26, 2014;
Revealed: How governments can take control of smartphones, on Russia Today RT, June 25, 2014;
Who is behind ISIS’s terrifying online propaganda operation? on The Guardian, by Patrick Kingsley, June 23, 2014: The extremist jihadist group leading the insurgency against the Iraqi government is using apps, social media and even a feature-length movie to intimidate enemies, recruit new followers and spread its message. And its rivals – including foreign governments – are struggling to keep up …;
MONSANTO: Comprendre Monsanto dans une vidéo de 3mn. Si tu n’aimes pas Monsanto alors partage. Trouvé dans radio eveil.fr, mis par Alexandre, le 23 juin 2014 … aussi dans YouTube, 2.58 min, mis en ligne par Data Gueule, le 19 juin 2014;
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DEUTER, on Humanitarian Texts, June 28, 2014.