Street Corners for Pro Choice: Coffee with Anti’s

This article was last updated on May 20, 2022

Canada: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

First Encounter
 
So yesterday turned out to be a crazy, but interesting, and perhaps good, day. I got to Burlington a little after 8 and started going to the areas where I thought I’d find the group ‘Show the Truth’. Unfortunately, the last place I had on my list to look was where I found them. As soon as I saw them, I tweeted that I had found them. And then they started leaving!
 
This clearly irked me. I had earlier found an anti-choice blog had done a write up on me (Hi ya’ll!) so I wondered if they had been warned when I tweeted. No less, I saw where their bus was parked and since there was a couple dozen of them, it took awhile to board the bus. So I drove over and planned on parking behind them and following them. As I drove onto the street, a woman from their group approached my car. She saw my signs and said that she appreciated that I was an activist. She then invited me to coffee. I was a little surprised, but decided to go.
 
Coffee with Anti’s
 
I was a little worried they might have sent me on a fool’s errand, but I decided to trust them and I went to the Tim’s. They all did show up and I sat down to speak with a few older women and a man. I presented my position and my problem with their approach and they gave me the same lines that every anti has ever given. One thing that really irked me was when the man said that I would be slammed in court (I’m in law) if I couldn’t properly explain my arguments (because I was hesitating in answering some of their questions). I didn’t have a great retort at the time because I was doing my best to be unfailingly polite and also very careful about my words. The last thing I wanted was something I said to be taken out of context and twisted. They were very polite, but they were still anti’s. The other reason I was very careful was because there was 2 dozen of them vs. ME! I was the ONLY person who cared about the women and he was slamming me for not formulating my arguments! After 30-45 minutes of us going around in circles, they were packing up for their next location. I really wish I could have been less meek during coffee, but I had so many competing emotions that meek seemed like the safest one. 
 
The Chase!

So I had asked where their next location was going to be, but it was ‘against the rules’ to tell me, but it was suggested that I just follow the bus. So follow the bus I did! There were a few cars in the group as well, which turned out to be good. The bus and the car behind it managed to get through a yellow light. I saw the next turn, but it was a long light. Fortunately there were two more cars behind me. I got to the intersection where the bus turned and got into the turn lane. The cars behind me didn’t, so I pulled out and was now behind them. We went straight through and turned at the next light. The man I spoke with was driving the van and I was afraid they were going to sit in the intersection and make the left on the yellow, thus losing me. They didn’t and I got through. I now notice a cop car behind me, which I thought was interesting. I made a note to keep off my phone. At the next intersection they made a right, but the van held up, almost blocking me, so I turned into the parking lot, and made the right and got behind him. I saw the bus, which gave me a bigger target to follow. From there the route seemed a little circuitous, but eventually they parked. I stayed in my car in case they decided to leave, until they unloaded. At that point, I had to leave to go pick up a woman who I’d been put in touch with. She was 6 minutes away, so when the bus was half unloaded, I figured they were staying put, so I zipped up to get the woman. They were still there when we returned. The woman who invited me to coffee also brought me "proof" that one of their pictures does in fact depict a 10 week abortion (a pathology report signed by a ‘doctor’). Let’s just say, I used lots of salt.
 
Counter-Protesting
 
At this stage, another woman who I’d contacted came to meet us as well. These were people who I had never spoken to two days before, and now they were dropping everything to join me. Such is the network of pro-choice activism! I grabbed my signs and the 3 of us began following the dozens of them.
 
There was a cop that pulled up and asked to speak with the ring-leader of the anti’s. I briefly mentioned that I was the opposing side and we intended to be 100% peaceful. I think his bigger concern was the fact that there were 20 signs of gore lining both sides of a busy street. We moved on and set up on a street corner to defend choice.
 
There were some "discussions" between the one woman who joined me and an anti, and it got very heated with words like "murderer" being thrown around. Just another day defending choice.
 
This older woman was fairly vocal and continued to antagonize us. It was very hard not to fight back. She also let out a big gasp when she saw my "God won’t pay for diapers" sign. Clearly she was offended by the words, which is just a touch ironic…

The anti’s stretched up both sides of the street. I was pretty much in the middle of their group.

 

Fall-Out
 
We hung out on opposite sides of the street, getting some support, including one guy who yelled out his window "Yay abortion!". Never failed to make me smile. We were in front of a number of businesses, and the owner of the Kelsey’s came out and approached me, asking what was going on. I said that I was not with that group. He was visibly upset since he was just trying to make a living, and here were these fools outside his business with bloody signs. The one woman with me and him went to speak with the priest behind me, but it was clear they didn’t care. 
There was a woman walking with her son and she was very pissed, yelling at them as she went by. It was very unfortunate. My mother had driven past the group at their first location in the morning and she was quite disgusted. I am certain she wasn’t the only one. These people claim that they are just presenting the information to people, but they are really just antagonizing and deceiving the public.
 
Conclusion
 
We stood with the group for 90 minutes or so and decided to pack it in. I am not sure how much longer they stayed, but I felt like we had made our point. I had a wonderful time speaking with the women who came out with me and I am very glad they did. At times I think we were mistaken as being "with" them because people likely couldn’t read my signs that well. There were definitely some people who knew we were there for choice. For me it was about not giving this group any sort of "welcome" to my city. I wanted them to know that there were people who vehemently oppose their position, as well as their medium for presenting that position. I am very glad I did it. 
 
If you decide that you want to do something similar, you can do it for very cheap (if there is a good dollar store in your area!). All you need is some paint (that some dollar stores will have), we got acrylic. Black and a few colours. Bristol board, and stiff foam board or cardboard to mount the bristol board on. I also got an 8′ length of 2×1 board, cut into 2′ pieces (it was all of $2). We screwed the wood onto the foam board (use washers!) and then stapled the bristol board onto either side. For about $25 you can get 4 double-sided posters. Making them is fun too!
 
Final Thoughts
 
In the afternoon I got a call from the local newspaper, wanting to ask me some questions and do a story. The guy was confused at first, thinking I was an anti, but I set him straight and gave him as much information as possible. I gained 20 followers on Twitter in one day, which is a huge jump, IMO. In 48 hours I managed to get out and protest an unwanted group of anti’s. 
 
The project also sparked some awesome comments and words of encouragement from friends on fb, not to mention #prochoice love on Twitter. I also ended up having a discussion with my brother and some of his friends about what I was doing. I was able to explain why the anti’s are so offensive, particularly this group. The opportunity to give information to 5 men in their 20’s made it worth it. I would recommend activism to everybody. It shows the anti’s that we exist and that we care and it sparks discussion with people around you who may not have know of the issues. In short, I’m glad that I had coffee with the anti’s while standing on street corners for choice.
Share with friends
You can publish this article on your website as long as you provide a link back to this page.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*