What would Jesus do? Bully and intimidate healthcare workers, of course

Abortion services are now available to the people of Invercargill, despite the moralising bullshit of old white men like Dr Norm Maclean who pretend to care about women but really only care about the women (and other pregnant people) who make the choices Dr Maclean wants them to make.

How are the antis going to combat this?  By intimidating healthcare workers.  By bullying and threatening to “out” people who are providing necessary medical care to people.

Oh, sorry, I mean “naming and shaming”.  Sounds so much more righteous than “threatening to publish people’s name and personal details because they’re performing a [somewhat] legal medical procedure”.

But hey, they’re on the side of good.  They know “if you’re pregnant you have a right to know if your midwife performs abortions as well” – so says Father Vaughan Leslie, who has a surprising amount of insight into how pregnant people feel.

I guess Father Leslie just doesn’t know that 55% of people who have abortions already have at least one child.  So it would probably actually be super-helpful for them to know they could receive care from a medical practitioner who they’ve got a pre-existing relationship with.  But somehow I don’t think that’s his actual motivation.

(I’m also unclear as to whether or not midwives can even perform medical or surgical abortions in the first place.  I don’t think it’s safe to assume an antichoicer is going to be accurate on pretty much anything.)

Here’s the main point, summarised most excellently by Dr Morgan Healey:

Abortion Law Reform Association NZ president Morgan Healey said protesters who labelled women baby-killers were causing more emotional damage than the actual abortion. “It completely misses the whole concept of caring for women.”

Remember, antichoicers are meant to be the really compassionate ones, the ones on the side of morality and justice.  And yet they will happily endanger the health and wellbeing of pregnant women, they will harass and abuse them as they go to see their doctor, and directly threaten the safety of medical practitioners, because some people are making choices they don’t like.

Let’s be really fucking honest about where this kind of thinking leads, people.

More from ALRANZ here.