Wednesday, September 05, 2007

aurora becoming new battlefield for reproductive health access

Groups join growing protest of Aurora Planned Parenthood clinic -- chicagotribune.com

400 folks who like fetuses more than they like women to maybe 36 pro-choicers.
what's wrong with this picture?

why are there always more of them than there are of us?
is it because we don't have as much leisure time to cross state and county lines to hold a picket sign?
is it because we all have day jobs?

frak.

throw Planned Parenthood some support.
they need all the help they can get.

6 comments:

Orange said...

Well, it's harder to motivate people to take action to maintain the status quo. All we could do is have things continue on as they are, with abortion rights, with the clinic opening as planned.

The other side is fighting to prevent and change things--if they don't act, they lose. If we don't act, maybe the other side won't get their way and we still win. It's too easy to be lazy when you're upholding the status quo.

Delia Christina said...

erg, but you're right.

then i think, why aren't I down there, then?

and i find myself arguing with myself: 'aren't there pro choicers to live closer who can do something?'

Orange said...

You don't have a car, either. Aurora's, like, a 50-minute drive from the city. And who knows if the Metra station is anywhere near the protest site? And don't you work, anyway?

Delia Christina said...

i DO work!
what do all of those 400 pro-life protesters do that they can afford to take work off for whole weeks and protest a family planning clinic in another state?

Trope said...

I'm late to the discussion (as always; my blog reading is falling down) but I think at this particular protest the PP folks were actively discouraging a counter-protest. There's a certain population of cops and community members that will turn against any loud protest, no matter what their personal opinions are.

But by now the battle is joined; the Aurora city council meetings are probably the best place to throw support, along with the usual letters and phone calls if you're a constituent.

Also, between legal fees and paying staff for a clinic that cannot open, PP will be in serious need of cash pretty soon.

Delia Christina said...

trope: yeah, that makes sense. it just seems that strategy sometimes looks like conceding public opinion to the other side since all the papers and media cover the wacko pro-lifers.

you're also right that attending the city council meetings is the best way to help planned parenthood. my organization is hoping to get on the testimony list for this week's meeting to talk to them about how this clinic is important to our west suburban sexual assault clients.

everyone is so focused on the abortion thing that they're not paying attention to the fact that this clinic offers much needed reproductive health care: birth control, examinations, EC, STI screening, etc. for women who don't have health benefits, these things are crucial.