Topic: NewsBusters
Complaining about an MSNBC segment in which panelists agreed that "Pro-life sidewalk counseling outside of abortion clinics is 'bullying' and should not not accorded First Amendment's 'free speech' guarantees," Ken Shepherd uses an Oct. 10 NewsBusters post to declare a new right: "But completely left by the wayside is the right of women seeking an abortion to consider their options and listen to what pro-lifers have to say."
We weren't aware that there was some special right involved to "counsel" women -- if shouting at them on the sidewalk outside a clinic constitutes such a thing -- outside abortion clinics. It seems like the assumption being made here by Shepherd and other anti-abortion activists is that women get abortions on the spur of the moment and put absolutely no thought whatsoever into the decision and no consideration whatsoever into all sides of the issue.
Shepherd even approvingly quotes an amicus brief by a Democratic group noting that "All studies show that the decision to have an abortion is not one that is taken lightly or made without thoughtful consideration." Still, Shepherd seems to think differently, that shouting at women outside abortion clinics does anything beyond making a difficult decision that much more so.
