In a world of perverted moral values, evil not only becomes acceptable, but officially promoted, while good becomes a crime against the state. We see this in many areas, but certainly in the battle for life. All over the West the killing of babies has become legal and lauded by our elites, while those who dare to stand up for the unborn are treated as villains and criminals.
And part of the way we criminalise the behaviour of pro-lifers is to actually forbid them their basic right to peaceful protest near abortion mills. Many jurisdictions are setting up no-go zones, preventing their lawful right to free speech at the abortion clinics. The arrest of Graham Preston who challenged the recent Tasmanian law in this regard is a case in point: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/03/04/stand-up-for-babies-you-will-be-arrested/
Now Victoria seems to be moving in this direction. Just days ago a new law was passed giving the police greater powers to move along protestors. And as soon as that law was passed, one abortion mill sprung into action: “New anti-protest move-on laws will help remove anti-abortion protesters from the front of a clinic in the city, the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says.
“Cr Doyle said he had a great deal of sympathy for the clinic and shared its frustration but said up until now it had been hard for the council to move the protesters on. ‘I have even more sympathy for the young women who from time to time get harassed as they enter that clinic at a very vulnerable time in their lives, and I think that is appalling behaviour,’ Cr Doyle said.”
As usual the lamestream media showed it is not reporting the news here, but simply editorialising. Not one pro-lifer was of course asked to comment in this article. The whole piece was written from the pro-death camp point of view. The same with other media reports.
Channel Nine news last night for example referred to the pro-lifers as “extremists”! Yet ironically when the various media outlets did show footage of the pro-lifers, we saw several elderly women silently and peacefully praying – nothing more.
Such prayerful grandmothers are extremists? And those inside butchering living babies are not extremists? Just how did our moral reasoning become so perverted and inverted? Those uttering peaceful prayers are the bad guys here, while those dissecting babies are the heroes. Go figure.
Even more ironic is the fact that in America where such bubble zones have been set up in many places for decades now, the US Supreme Court is actually looking at their legality. As we speak SCOTUS is deciding on whether or not to strike down such restrictive laws.
As one report states, “On Jan. 15, the high court will hear oral arguments in the case of McCullen v. Coakley, challenging Massachusetts’ ‘bubble zone,’ the most restrictive in the country. Under the law, pro-lifers may not speak to abortion clinic clients within 35 feet of the entrance. This prohibition effectively scuttles the life-saving outreach of pro-life sidewalk counselors while exempting clinic staff and ‘agents’ (a term which could apply to any abortion advocate).
“The pro-life plaintiffs are also asking the court to overturn its ruling in Hill v. Colorado, which upheld a less restrictive ‘bubble zone’ in 2000. Since that time, similar laws have been enacted in many jurisdictions across the country—including a 2009 ‘bubble zone’ in the city of Chicago, where the Pro-Life Action League is headquartered.”
America’s pro-life forces are of course hoping that some common sense will come forth from SCOTUS. Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League said this: “Three of the dissenters in the Hill v. Colorado ruling – Justices Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy – are still on the court. Only Justices Ginsberg and Breyer remain from the majority. If any two of the new justices on the court – Kagan, Sotomayor, Alito and Roberts – were to side with the Hill minority, all the ‘bubble zone’ laws in the country could be struck down.”
The lead counsel for the pro-life plaintiffs, Mark Rienzi, said, “The Court allowed the restriction because the law had several key safeguards, all of which have been eliminated by the Massachusetts law.” He stated that the Massachusetts law was “inescapably viewpoint-based” and therefore a violation of free speech because it applies “only when and where abortion is allowed.”
The law also lets staff promote abortion to potential patients in the buffer zone. Brian Gibson, executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries, said: “These [laws] are being passed for one purpose: to shut down the speech of one opinion, which should be enough for the Supreme Court to reject them.”
Pro-Life League Vice President Ann Scheidler said this: “There’s no need to violate the First Amendment, take away free speech rights of the whole society, simply because of a viewpoint.” She pointed out the obvious discriminatory nature of the buffer zones: “If you’re for abortion, it’s perfectly OK to be inside. But if you’re against …”
And as Mathew Staver of the Liberty Counsel said about similar legislation in Florida: “The conspiracy to silence pro-life Americans continues unabated in West Palm Beach. This ordinance is not only overly broad but also viewpoint discriminatory and is, therefore, flatly unconstitutional. Liberty Counsel will not stand idly by while government officials – whether they be the attorney general or leaders in the city of West Palm Beach – harass these law-abiding Americans for their pro-life beliefs.”
While SCOTUS will certainly look at how such laws infringe upon the US First Amendment right to free speech, it should be noted that there is no direct or explicit expression of free speech in the Australian Constitution. But it is nonetheless of interest that while we are moving in a much more restrictive and oppressive direction in regards to the right to freedom of speech, the US may well be moving in the opposite direction.
Even though it looks like Melbourne mayor Doyle is onside with the baby killers on this one, we can still bring pressure to bear on him and the Council. Please let your voices be heard. You can contact them here as you stand for the unborn: https://eservices.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ePathway/Production/Web/CustomerService/DynamicPages.aspx?CustomerServiceId=141785&PageIndex=0&js=388228014
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-mayor-robert-doyle-wants-to-remove-antiabortion-protesters-from-east-melbourne-clinic-20140312-34m1w.html
http://www.charismanews.com/us/42340-pro-life-advocates-pray-that-supreme-court-strikes-down-abortion-clinic-bubble-zones
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/supreme-court-abortion-buffer-zones-mccullen-v-coakl.html
http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/abortion-clinic-bubble-zones-trump-1st-amendment/
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