2003-09-05

 

Ha, ha! I finally have a post on "Best Of" at TMF. I've never really tried for one before, per se, and the one that got it is pretty dark. But it's mine, so here it is in its entirety, for your probable lack-of-enjoyment.

Re: Exploitative? Possibly. Good Idea? I think
The thing that stuck out the most to me though was the use of posters - giant posters of aborted fetuses on sticks, waved in the air by protesters shouting "protect the children!".

As bus after bus of children drove by on their way to school.

Many of you already know that I had a somewhat unconventional upbringing. Some of the choices my parents made put my sister and me into positions we should never have been in. However, that aside...

When I was little -- probably second grade to seventh grade -- my mother often spent Saturday mornings at a women's clinic in Dallas. My sister and I regularly joined her. The anti-choice protestors outside the clinic were fierce. By the time my sister and I had been to the clinic a few times, they knew our names, ages, and where we went to school (in a nearby suburb). They also would try to call us over, away from the not-even-close-to-watchful eye of our mother. They would say things about how "didn't we want babies" or "next lady that comes into the clinic, tell her that you know the baby inside of her doesn't want to die." This went on for a year, maybe; every Saturday visit there was some "Hey b. Hey, Melissa. Come over here and talk to us!" attempt. My little sister was a terrifying cynic even at age five, and I remember her telling them that she just didn't buy what they were selling (essentially). They kept up the soft sell for quite a while, until it was obvious that we (Melissa, in particular) weren't going to budge. Then it got a bit uglier.

One incident I remember more clearly than the others. I was in maybe the fourth grade -- how old is that? I remember who my teachers were at the time. I also remember that one of the protestors called to me by name from behind some security bars. He said that they knew my teacher (also by name) -- which is why I went up to him. He made some small talk at first. Then came the big question -- "Can't you see abortion is wrong? How would you feel if your mother had aborted you?"

I thought about it for a second. No one had ever asked me that before.

"Well, I wouldn't know the difference, if I hadn't been born. And I think that they would be better off. If my mother had had a choice, then she probably would be happier now."

I was a pretty depressed little kid.

Another incident I remember from around the same time -- there was a march that culminated in a gathering in Lee Park. This was a few years later -- my sister (two years younger than me) was in the third or fourth grade. There was a point where everyone joined hands and made a glorified "Red Rover" line. Or at least that's what one of the anti-choice protestors thought. We were lined up -- me (sixth grade, maybe?), a friend of my mother, Melissa, my mother, and a bunch of adults. Melissa was clearly the youngest and smallest person in the line. And this guy turned his picket sign sideways and ran at her full-speed, pushing Melissa down with the stick of the sign when he reached her. It was one of the regulars from outside the clinic. He knocked her down, bruised her liver and a rib, stepped on her wrist as he went past her (which thankfully wasn't broken)... and then went back to be congratulated by his comrades.

Protect the children, my a$$.

~~b

posted by bethanye 4:19:00 PM