This morning started out a bit scattered. There was a whole crew of monks and nuns at Dr. Emily's along with the familiar highly paid interns. One has to wonder why they can't get anyone out who doesn't do this for a living... Anyway, they were mostly in the back today, with monks wandering right into the driveway. There were some interns in the front praying. Only Laura tried to talk to any patients, but no one listened to her.
Midway through the morning, we got word that there were 25 protesters praying at Planned Parenthood a mile away. We diverted a bunch of escorts who were on their way to go there and send a bunch of people over on the bus only to find out the protesters had left and we had to recall everyone back to Dr. Emily's. Meanwhile Bronx 12 news showed up and we did some interviews and drowned out the bigots' interviews. We also hummed along with their off key prayers. One of these week's we'll remember the pitch pipe.
When everyone got back from Planned Parenthood, there were around 40 of us and only a handful of protesters left. That's when the fun started. We did all the usual chants and a few new ones. "Who's the killer? You're the killer! Your side murdered Dr. Tiller." "Mantengan sus rosarios lejos de mis ovarios." My personal favorite requires explanation. One of the protesters on our side chalked up the sidewalk with pro-choice and pro-women messages. At one point, the bigots left their pen and we thought they had gone home. Our chalk artist went over and wrote "Hate Free Zone" in their pen. Just as she was finishing up, a crazy bigot ran up from behind her and jumped at her. (The cops just stood there as we started screaming.) Crazy bigot got all angry with the chalk and poured his coffee on it to erase it, but the only part he erased was the word "Free." Hence, a new chant for us: "You're all alone! In your hate zone!"
Crazy bigot spend the rest of the time alternating between praying and cursing at us. We told him God could hear him even when he said "Fuck" but he didn't seem to care. He also told us we were ugly, while making a motion like we should slit our throats, and told us to close our legs. We will certainly keep our legs far from him.
Next week a lot of us will be in DC for the March for Equality (see http://equalityacrossamerica.org/blog/?page_id=19 if you want to come too). If you're not going, or you're just going for the day on Sunday and want to go to both, please let us know. Email nycacd@gmail.com
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I stood outside Dr. Emily's this past summer as a sidewalk counselor. I understand there is much tension right now between the pro-life and pro-choice sides, but I wanted to clear up a few details so the public can know the truth. First, the pro-life interns were not highly paid at all. We were paid $100 a week and once only $50. As all New Yorkers know, that is hardly enough to make it by week by week in the city. Those who are older are paid a little more because they have more needs. To make this point more known, when I was there, I wasn't able to afford a new pair of shoes because I wasn't paid enough. The interns there aren't paid enough to work that job for the money. They work it because they truly care about the cause. Also, when I was there, there were Spaniards working as interns and everyone got along great. People are not judged by their race at all. In fact, one of the mothers who is Hispanic who chose to keep her baby was invited over to our house where we had dinner with her. We all had a great time. Every person deserves his or her own dignity, and as people who believe in the dignity of all life from conception to natural death, we would never treat a person different because of their race. The rumors that the Hispanics were paid less is simply not true. We are also there not to protest, but to be a light to the women. As crisis pregnancy center counselors, we see everyday how horrible post-abortion syndrome is (yes, it does exist--it's a form of post-tramatic stress syndrome). Working as counselors, we see how important it is to show the women that they DO have a choice. Most of these women think their only choice is abortion. During the summer we had saves every week--one day we even had 15 saves at our Brooklyn center. Finally, to clear up another matter, we do not hate anyone. We are actually very saddened that the pro-choicers will not engage in friendly dialogue with us. Both sides of the argument have a right to be there, and because we are there every day, I believe we should at least be on friendly terms. Also, if we didn't care about the women, we wouldn't be out there every day of the week that abortions are offered (and not just for 40 Days for Life). Anyway, I hope this cleared up some misconceptions. Thanks, have a blessed day!
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