Clinic

On Saturday February 16, 2013, a woman entered a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Los Angeles at 9a.m. Before she entered, she was bombarded with a public display of petitioners who argued in favor of pro-life. These protesters stood on the sidewalk, held signs that voiced their opinion on abortion, and showed graphic pictures of baby fetuses. This Planned Parenthood Clinic or S. Mark Taper Foundation Center for Medical Training is located on 400 West 30th Street in Los Angeles and is one of few abortion clinics in Downtown LA that offers surgical procedures for women looking to abort their child more than 16 weeks into the pregnancy. These pro-life protestors walked in a circle on the sidewalk and used soft voices. They held posters with pictures of God and an array of biblical sayings. Pictures of a woman’s uterus and posters with sayings like “Pretend I’m a tree, save me” or “Abortion is murder” were in abundance. They did not disturb any employees, patients, nurses, or doctors that were coming in and out of the building. Their whole purpose was to be inadvertently recognized and not cause any up rise or conflict. However, a couple years ago, a scene like this would have been depicted differently.

In the Supreme Court Case Madsen vs. Women’s Health Center, Inc., Madsen claimed that “not allowing the petitioners to voice their opinion was a violation of free speech”. Pro- life petitioners used to harass women who entered the clinic by persuading them to believe they were killing an “innocent human being”, showing them pictures of what their dead baby would look like, use mega phones to disturb activities surrounding the clinic, and barricade the entrance of the clinic so women would have to fight their way through the crowds in order to enter. An amendment injunction was put in place that now prohibits “petitioners from blocking or impeding access to the Respondents’ premises, from picketing and demonstrating or entering a portion of public right of way or private property within 36 feet of the property line of the Clinic, from causing excess noise from 7:30 am to noon Monday thru Saturday when procedures and recovery periods occur, and from physically approaching or causing noise within 300 feet of any of the Respondents’ employees homes” (Plannedparenthood.com).This applies to any women’s health clinic across the U.S. and limits petitioners from harassing these women in the future.

Currently, there is tension and always will be tension between the pro-life group and the establishment (Women Health Clinic Inc. & Federal Law). Even though abortion is legal under the federal law, it will always be a controversial issue because each side differs in their ideologies. 

 

Cristina Mollis