Comments | clinic_escorts: MA State House of Reps passes stronger buffer zone law in MA!

thebostonreader in clinic_escorts

MA State House of Reps passes stronger buffer zone law in MA!

Nov 02, 2007 12:22

I'm so psyched about this, you have no idea! I just got this email via the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts:

"Yesterday, the Massachusetts House overwhelmingly passed legislation, by a vote of 122-28, to establish a 35-foot fixed protest-free buffer zone around the entrances and exits of all reproductive health facilities in Massachusetts. ( Read more... )

Comments 11

eyelid November 2 2007, 17:01:05 UTC

neat! We have the same issue w/protestors at the clinic I escort at. The clinic is flush against a sidewalk of a busy street, and there's a light rail in the middle of the street, making it so it's hard for people to cross in the middle of the street. I don't think we have any buffer zone at all.

thebostonreader November 2 2007, 19:06:01 UTC

That must be really hard. Do you get protesters blocking your clinic entrance?

eyelid November 2 2007, 19:46:25 UTC

they're not legally allowed to block it or prevent people from entering. If they tried we escorts would immediately call the police.

They mostly just follow people and try to give them brochures full of entirely false information and tell them that abortion will hurt them, etc.

thebostonreader November 2 2007, 19:54:20 UTC

Oh, so you do have protective laws, that's good. I thought if you didn't have a buffer zone maybe you weren't protected.

Yeah, they come up with a lot of crazy things to say, don't they? I love it when they tell patients to get an ultrasound to make sure they're really pregnant before having the abortion. Apparently PP does abortions on the non-pregnant, just for the fee.

Thread 8

silentbanshee November 2 2007, 17:19:53 UTC

I know exactly which clinic you are talking about. I use to pass it all the time on my way home from college along the green line B train.

I remember seeing harrassment pretty often there. It's appalling really what these protestors do. It always seemed like a difficult and dangerous location for a Planned Parenthood.

Thank goodness for this law effort and your effort.

thebostonreader November 2 2007, 19:08:26 UTC

I hear that the protesters are worse in the Bible belt, but ours can get pretty bad. I feel like they've gotten tamer in the last couple of years, though. Honestly, though, I think it might be the same for the patients as it ever was, and the protesters have given up on harassing the escorts as much as they used to.

singingsoftly November 4 2007, 18:43:43 UTC

YAY!