Rescuing Worshippers

[Alan Brownstein]

        I believe there is an important difference between civil rights protestors
at lunch counters and protestors that blockade clinics that provide
abortion services. Many clinics provide a wide range of pregnancy related
medical care for women who plan to have babies as well as abortions for
women who decide otherwise. Sometimes the immediate availability of that
medical care is critical. More importantly, the pregnant woman (and her
husband) may not be aware that the conditions that motivated the woman to
go to her doctor's office are as serious as they turn out to be. Confronted
with a blockade, it would not be unreasonable for a patient to return home
and try to schedule an appointment a day or two later -- a delay that could
have serious or tragic consequences for the mother or her baby.

        Members of this list who have lived through the experience know how
suddenly a problem can arise in what appeared to be a normal pregnancy, how
little warning parents may have that something is wrong, and how important
it is that medical care be made available without delay.

        Sit-ins at lunch counters don't create these kinds of risks.

                                                        Alan Brownstein
                                                        UC Davis



At 05:10 PM 8/7/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Garrett Epps writes:>
>> >the
>> >stronger claim for sympathy is that of the rescuer who is unselfishly
>> >trying to save the live of a tiny human being who was scheduled to die
>> >by choice that day in that clinic.
>> This, I take it, being more sympathetic than the "selfish" claim of a
>> civil rights protester to full and equal citizenship?
>> ____________
>
>Certainly I don't believe that civil rights protestors were "selfish."
>But those who risk their liberty to protect the unborn are
>*completely* selfless in their motivation. The grandmother was not
>demanding *her* right not to be killed (she already has that right as
>a "person" the Court is willing to recognize); she was putting her
>interests on the line to protect the life of someone else (or of many
>others).
>
>I, of course, applaud both the judge who showed compassion for
>the civil rights protestor and the judge who showed compassion for the
>pro-life rescuer. Indeed, if I owned a baseball team I would allow
>either of these judges to be admitted for half-price on
>"Compassionate Judges Night." Go Suns!
>
>--
>                   ----------
>             Rick Duncan (rduncan at unlinfo.unl.edu)
>
>"Even when there is no candidate worth voting for, there is always
>some candidate worth voting against." --Fabian Leaflet no. 43
>
>