All the horror gentlemen, is this; that there is no horror! - Aleksandr Kuprin, The Pit, translation by Bernard G. Guerney.

I started this post last June when the news broke on this story.

"The US Supreme Court today unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that banned protesters within 35 feet of abortion clinics, ruling that the law infringed upon the First Amendment rights of anti-abortion activists."

While reading about this on the train home from work, my chest tightened, and my thoughts swirled with rage. Just the fact that this issue exists in the first place, is what really angers and frustrates me.

MA created this law in part because back in 1994, a gunman opened fire with a rifle at two abortion clinics in Brookline, a suburb of Boston- killing two staff workers and wounding at least five other people. This was not the first or the last attack of this nature. This link outlines five shootings that occurred around the same time, along with giving a detailed description of the attack in the Brookline clinics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/abortviolence/stories/salvi.htm

A women's right to choose is so sacred to me. Birth is sacred. Giving birth is the one thing that is so monumental so HUGE that not having the right choose when and how you do so is horrifying. When it's not, or when something impedes on that right, I view it as a gross crime against humanity. It's a human rights issue, not just a women's rights issue.

I can understand, the importance of protecting the first amendment, and yes I suppose that the law was infringing on the first amendment rights. This is because sidewalks are public property, and you can't technically restrict these areas under the constitution. Clinics that are not located in the city have private property to act as a buffer zone, but here, there is just the entrance...and the public sidewalk. I'm sure that MA will simply be more creative when it comes up with the replacement. New York for example has a law that prohibits people from following or harassing another person within 15 feet of an abortion clinic. The buffer zone law, was obviously superior to this alternative, so I hope that whatever MA comes up with, it is somehow comparable to the original.

With all of that being said...THIS FUCKING SUCKS.

It sucks that the people that work at, or go to these clinics have to put up with harassment.

What sucks more than anything is that we still have to fight for women's rights. That we ever had to fight for women's rights. That the world has come to this. Why did humanity as a whole not do something to prevent this sooner. Why do we still let the atrocities happen? Is nothing fucking sacred. What the shit!??

All the horror gentlemen is this; THAT THERE IS NO HORROR.