Kunwoo Lee
The COVID-19 crisis has brought upon a new label for society, essential services and businesses. There are many that all people can agree on that need to remain physically open, including grocery stores, gas stations, and dozens of others. However, are abortion protests really an essential operation?
On March 28, four men were charged at a Greensboro abortion clinic. They had violated stay-at-home orders that were issued less than 24 hours before. The protesters had driven all the way from the Charlotte area to protest at Greensboro’s only abortion clinic, A Woman’s Choice. On March 31, seven people were arrested for protesting at the clinic. Three of those men were the same ones charged for the March 28 protest. On April 4, eight were arrested and numerous others given citations from a protest of 50. They have been charged with violating the governor’s executive order to stay at home by protesting outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center of Charlotte.
Among those arrested was potential HGTV star David Benham. David, along with his twin brother Jason, were both going to star on the show “Flip It Forward,” but that was cancelled due to their anti-abortionist and homophobic views. The brothers have since blamed it on the gay “agenda” that their show was canceled, so if you couldn’t tell, yeah, these protests are far from essential.
All of these protests have been organized by an anti-abortion group called Love Life. Their members are easily recognizable with their teal shirts. They claim that the protests are an essential operation as a social service. The counseling they provide to women entering abortion clinics through their megaphones and shouts are, they claim, essential.
One of their current goals is to get abortion clinics shut down, as Love Life has deemed them to be nonessential operations (this is despite the major spike in demand for abortions). Ted Cruz has stated, “NC Dem Gov has wrongly deemed elective abortion ‘essential.’ If providing abortions is essential, then peacefully giving pregnant women counseling on alternatives to abortion is also ‘essential.'”
They also claim that the coronavirus is being used to violate the first amendment. Benham tells Fox News, “It’s government overreach. It’s viewpoint discrimination. It’s selective enforcement of the COVID law. It’s the suppressing of religious expression. It’s all those things.” Other groups and organizations also agree. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted out that his “friend” David Benham was “unconstitutionally arrested today in NC for peacefully providing pregnancy counseling outside an abortion clinic.” A lawsuit was filed for the first group of protestors in Greensboro against Mayor Nancy Vaughn and Lieutenant Dan Knott for violating their civil liberties. The lawsuit is one among many happening across the country as people continue the “essential operation” of abortion clinic protests.
An important thing to note is that none of the protestors were ever charged or arrested for being against women’s clinics and all they offer; they were arrested for violating stay-at-home orders issued to protect citizens from the spread of COVID-19. I am all for expressing your first amendment right, whether it be ignorant and hateful or a cry against government abuse; however, those rights should extend up until the point you are potentially putting another person’s life at risk.
The protests were stupid and went against the very orders issued to try and save their lives or the lives of ther loved ones. There are other ways to offer their “essential operation” that other legitimate places have done. If only there was a way to continue mass communication from the safety of their home. If only there was an application of some sort that allowed people to connect through their webcams and offer counseling. If only there was a safe, legal way to continue their “essential operation” of a protest.
All in all, this is a massively dumb waste of the police’s resources and time. Frankly, we shouldn’t have to be dealing with this, especially at a turbulent time like the COVID-19 pandemic is causing. I say express your rights, but don’t be dumb and risk other’s lives for it.