New York Times Examines Antiabortion-Rights Street Protesters

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 14 Oct 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Saturday profiled three antiabortion-rights street protesters, "an assertive minority of a few thousand people within the larger antiabortion movement." Although street protesters are not as well financed as other factions of the movement, they are usually "the only face of antiabortion that many Americans see," the Times reports. The protesters' tactics typically involve calling out to women walking into abortion clinics or displaying large, graphic signs in public areas. For many such protesters -- like James Pouillon, who was shot to death in September while protesting in Michigan -- "persistent provocation is their defining attribute," according to the Times. Some in the abortion-rights movement view them as "bullies bent on harassment," and even some of their fellow abortion-rights opponents have marginalized protesters "as attention hogs who prefer to attract outrage rather than inspiring compassion," the Times reports.

The street protesters rarely venture into other segments of the antiabortion-rights movement and prefer to work alone or in small groups, according to Ziad Munson, a Lehigh University sociologist who has interviewed hundreds of abortion-rights opponents. It is difficult for street protesters "to get beyond the culture of passionate debate," he added (Cave, New York Times, 10/9).

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