Joe Marino/for New York Daily News
Pro-life demonstrators have rights to speak, something that Chris Quinn needs to remember.
Acting on pro-choice convictions, Speaker Christine Quinn has formed a City Council Clinic Protection Project to support women who face anti-abortion demonstrations as they seek health services.
Quinn is walking a fine line by appearing to place the municipal legislature behind one side of the clash of principles over the right to terminate pregnancies.
Two local pro-life groups have staged demonstrations outside medical facilities that provide abortions. The organizations are entitled to do so as long as they remain 15 feet from an entrance and do not obstruct passage.
In recent months, one Brooklyn clinic closed because haranguing by protesters reportedly drove women and doctors away, and clinics in Queens and the Bronx complained of aggressive tactics. A video of one incident captured protesters impeding a woman as she tried to enter a facility.
On Friday, Quinn said she was looking for volunteers to walk with women to clinics. That’s reasonable and may help women who want support.
However, a city website advertised that training would take place in City Hall — which would be unwise. Quinn’s office insisted Monday that the notice was in error — Planned Parenthood would do training in its own offices.
Quinn would also be well within rights to serve as an escort herself, to speak out against harassment and to urge volunteers to assist private organizations in escort drives.
But that’s as far as she should go, keeping in mind that as a high public official and potential mayor, she would be obligated to provide the same backing to all people who are the subject of protests — not just to those whose causes she champions.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NydnRss/~3/BmxzWK2_ovc/story01.htm
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