I've been down to the Planned Parenthood clinic a few times recently in search of the story of the people who protest against abortion there, a group called Operation Rescue.
I've only been there twice when the Operation Rescue people were present. It took me one try just to find out that they are usually there before noon.
I know something about Planned Parenthood and now I also know something about some of the Operation Rescue people. So here are some facts.
- The Operation Rescue people I met weren't actually protesting. I mean they weren't walking up and down with signs and chanting. What they want to do is try to talk women who are going to have abortions out of it. A less important goal is to talk women out of using birth control.
- The two times I've been the group has been the same four people.
- I'm told that on the first Saturday of each month there are much larger and more vocal groups engaged in something much more like protests.
- The Operation Rescue people view the Planned Parenthood clinic as an abortion clinic.
- Certainly this clinic does provide legal abortions, but it also provides other medical services for women, namely birth control, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, consoling, and primary routine gynecologic care.
The same four Operation Rescue people were there both time. They were Claire, Lauren, Bill, and Mike. All are Catholics and very religious. Bill spent a lot of time praying, I'd guess for an end to the activities in the clinic.
Neither man has children. Both women have children. Lauren has 3 or 4 (I'm having trouble remembering.) Claire has 8 children (more, again I forget) and 12 grandchildren.
Lauren was the most outgoing, at least in terms of talking to me.
The first time I went, she was obviously very suspicious of me, but by the second time she warmed to me. I tried to keep the conversation low key and neutral, but she really wanted me to read the bible and find god. Actually, the first time I went, she wanted me to find Jesus, but I told her I was Jewish so then she just wanted me to read the Old Testament.
I talked to Mike and Lauren about disagreements in their own families. Mike thinks his sisters are "pro abortion" but they only see each other over holidays and it sounds like everyone tries to stay away from the topic. Mike is by far the most religious of his siblings. Lauren sounds like she comes from a very religious Catholic family and it seems there are no disagreements on this particular topic. She does have friends who disagree with her about it, though.
Massachusetts has a buffer zone law which requires these people to keep at least 18 feet away from the clinic. The white lines painted on the sidewalk delineate this zone; nevertheless, they do approach people going in and out of the clinics. Their first interaction is usually to try to give them some pamphlets. Mostly, the women come and go and ignore the Operation Rescue people.
But I've seen some women accept the literature they pass out.
Lauren told me that two women decided against abortions last week. To be honest, I don't know exactly what that means. What role did Operation Rescue play in this? On their web site they keep a count of women "who have decided against abortion" this year. They are up to "#9".