,
11 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Perfect example of why you do not go to abortion clinics and engage with protesters. Clinics have de-escalation policies. Sims acted as a private, non-clinic neighbor and violated that, and now this is happening next.
You don't get to out-yell or out harass protesters at clinic and "win". It doesn't make protesters go away. It makes them dig in and bring more people. Now, abortion opponents have literally turned this into a national event. facebook.com/events/8575229…
The thing that is the absolutely most frustrating about this is the fact that according to Sim's apology, he has been a volunteer escort at that clinic for 7 years. He said he knows exactly why you don't engage. Yet he put on his private hat and did it anyway on his off time.
I'm lucky enough to call a lot of escorts my friends, and I know that many clinics and many escorts have different policies, but one thing that is consistent is that those policies are always blanket. If its non-engagement, it is ALWAYS that - regardless of if patients are there.
There are a few things you need to remember from here on out when it comes to clinics if you consider yourself an ally and don't want to harm access - and all of them boil down to "don't engage with protesters"
1) Abortion opponents want someone to break a law. That gets the clinic in trouble even if the clinic wasn't involved. They get to put the clinic's name in the press and that is a constant end goal.
2) Abortion opponents want to get videos of acts of them being physically or verbally harassed. That helps them change the narrative that they are oppressive, aggressive and sometimes violent. They have numerous media channels to run these on to create this narrative.
3) Abortion opponents have literally endless supplies of pro-bono lawyers. They know they can work w/near impunity because they will never pay legal costs out of pocket. Thats why they can easily flit rules like sound ordinances, buffer zones, leave signs on private property, etc
4) Most importantly, ALL of this is working to a goal of claiming their religious liberty supersedes any law that protects a clinic or patient. For this to work, they need an oppressor who is violating their religious rights. They got the perfect one w Sims. He won't be the last.
If you take nothing else away from this incident, it's that Sims took what sounds like it is usually an ugly situation at a clinic and by intervening now guaranteed a massive rally of abortion opponents will appear. That won't help anyone access healthcare.
tl;dr - you can't out-harrass or shame abortion opponents at clinics and they are desperate for you to try so they can use it to restrict access further, so please stay away from them.
