Tuesday 21 June:
BORDER doctor Peter Mourik says police should step in to stop anti-abortion protesters harassing women at Albury’s abortion clinic.
Unfortunately the Border Mail hasn’t put the full article online, but you can read it here.
Tuesday 21 June:
BORDER doctor Peter Mourik says police should step in to stop anti-abortion protesters harassing women at Albury’s abortion clinic.
Unfortunately the Border Mail hasn’t put the full article online, but you can read it here.
In case you were in any doubt, this is the kind of rubbish that the “Helpers of God’s Precious Infants” describe as “sidewalk counselling”.
It’s June, and the anti-choice group ‘Helpers of God’s Precious Infants’ continue to film people accessing the fertility control clinic in Albury.
Last year the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) recomended in a report of surviellance in public places, that the Victorian government make it an offense to undertake surviellance in order to intimidate.
Here is some of the relevant material from the VLRC’s Surviellance in Public Places – final report:
Page 124:
The commission is aware of a number of instances of surveillance devices being used to intimidate, demean or harass people.
Page 125:
Sometimes surveillance devices are used for the purpose of intimidation or to prevent people from doing something they are otherwise lawfully entitled to do. Some submissions to our Consultation Paper expressed concern about surveillance being used in this manner. Local examples include anti-abortion campaigners setting up surveillance outside abortion clinics and people being filmed entering gay bars or drug treatment clinics.
RECOMMENDATION
20. A new offence should be included in the SDA that makes it unlawful to use a surveillance device in such a way as to: intimidate, demean or harass a person of ordinary sensibilities; or to prevent or hinder a person of ordinary sensibilities from performing an act they are lawfully entitled to do.
The then Labor Attorney General:
thanked the VLRC for its work and said the Government would consider the report’s recommendations – Media release
What consideration the then Victorian government actually gave the report is unclear, I have been unable to find a more recent or detailed announcement on the Victorian government’s media release website.
- Kieran.
Border Mail, 9-June-2011, Boys’ Facebook page closes:
ORGANISERS have deleted a Facebook group devoted to defending the privacy of clients of an Albury abortion clinic, after the page became host to a bitter debate over abortion.
…
[T]he group’s creator Alex Cameron, 17, said its message became lost after anti-abortionists flooded the page with comments and links.He said the group was meant to support the right of women to access legal termination services without being filmed or accosted — not debate abortion.
Read the full article here.
Last night we recieved word that Dr Kathy Lewis was off sick today, and as such the clinic would be unable to see clients. After discussion amongst the participants I’m in contact with, I and others agreed not to have a presence outside the clinic today, and instead concentrate on next weeks action.
I am still waiting for info on whether the anti-choice group “Helpers of God’s Precious Infants” spent the day filming a closed door.
This report is just one person’s account, and is no way an official position of any group, or the gathering as a whole! Also, ongoing updates are being posted to twitter using the hashtag #albchoice. Please share widely, no rights reserved.
The Age, June 1 2011: ‘No film’ call by abortion clinics:
ABORTION clinics are calling for the state government to crack down on protesters who have started filming women as they enter and leave clinics.
…
Dr Susie Allanson from the East Melbourne clinic said patients were distressed by the practice and concerned about what the protesters were doing with the photos and footage of them.”There’s no doubt that this is another way to intimidate women … It’s very threatening,” she said.
Full article here.
I would like to thank the Border Mail and journalist Brad Worrall for their ongoing coverage of this important issue in today’s Border Mail.
However, I feel that today’s otherwise fine article opens with an overely melodramatic line:
TENSIONS between anti-abortion and pro-choice protesters in Albury are at boiling point.
I attended yesterday’s action and I’ve spoken to a number of other participants. From our perspective it seems something of an exaggeration to describe “tensions” as “at boiling point”, as if violence or mass discord were just about to erupt on the streets of Albury.
Yesterday’s action by those of us standing in defense of women’s rights was an entirely peaceful, civil, and largely incident free gathering.
We have no reason to believe that next week’s action will be any different in this respect.
- Kieran Bennett.
Today’s Border Mail coverage of yesterday’s action is availible on their website here.
June 2nd marks the third consecutive week of action in defense of the Fertility Control Clinic on Englehardt Street in Albury. Due to work commitments I was unable to attend for the full day, so this report will be somewhat shorter than last weeks.
Last week there was some concern that passing traffic and clients of the clinic might mistake our presence for support of the anti-choice picket. Never fear! Susie Reid has had some fantastic t-shirts made up, they read “Pro Choice, Pro Privacy”. They’ll be availible to wear at each weeks gathering.
The anti-choice group have escalated their presence at the clinic. At around lunch time (when attendence on both sides seems to peak) there were 12 anti-choice picketers and 14 gathered in defense of the clinic. The anti-choice group also had two vans and other vehicles. Video cameras were setup within two of the vehicles, and one of the vans was decked out with a banner across the windshield promoting their new website.
I shot this video of one of the cameras pointed at the entrance to the clinic:
I am informed that at one point the anti-choice group attempted to park a van in the parking space directly in front of the clinic. They were prevented by five supporters standing in the space. At this point, someone called the police.
A supporter who was there at the time reports:
The police spoke with them first, they then approached Susie to ask whether she or anyone of us had called the Police. We had not. The Police reminded us that we must not block the footpaths. They spoke to a couple of people, observed for maybe three quarters of an hour, and then left without incident.
During the day the anti-choice group had made numerious threats to “call the police”, but it seems they when they eventually did make a frivelous call, they were unwilling to own up to it.
At 3pm the anti-choice group packed up and left.
We continue to recieve strong support from passers by with several stopping to express their thanks and support.
“Although people on the defense side had different views, one thing we all agreed on was that women have the right to access healthcare without intimidation”. – Kay
This report is just one person’s account, and is no way an official position of any group, or the gathering as a whole! Also, ongoing updates are being posted to twitter using the hashtag #albchoice. Please share widely, no rights reserved.
Women’s rights are still under attack in Albury. Once again a group of anti-choice religious demonstrators have picketed the Engelhardt St Fertility Control Clinic in Albury, and attempted to intimidate and harass women seeking to access the clinic.
Today, for the second week in a row, the anti-choice group were met by a small and determined gathering, and their harassment was substantially disrupted.
I arrived at the clinic at ten am to find five of anti-choice set up out the front of the clinic. Three were across the road from the clinic loudly praying, whilst two others were on the foot path out the front of the clinic accosting women who were seeking to access the clinic. I was joined by chief executive officer of Women’s Health Goulburn North East, Susie Reid.
Women’s Health Goulburn North East is the overarching body that includes the Engleheart St clinic. Susie Reid is highly supportive of action to defend women’s rights, and to obstruct anti-choice campaigners seeking to harass women at the clinic. They are keen to see this become an ongoing action in defence of women’s rights to access a clinic free from harassment.
Others arrived over the following hour. Susie Reid demonstrated the art of intercepting and non-physically obstructing anti-choice harassers out the front of the clinic, impressive and highly effective!
The anti-choice group sought to engage us verbally on several occasions, but their inability to get any response frustrated them. We had one drive and stop abuser, who left when he realised he was being totally ignored.
The surveillance camera was back. This week the camera was in a car parked on the clinics side of the road, and it was pointed directly at the entrance of the clinic. The claims of the anti-choice group, that their camera is getting a broad picture of the street in case they are assaulted, are clearly bogus. It’s there to intimidate women seeking to access the clinic.
At 11.30am, having been obstructed from accessing the front of the clinic and harassing women, the anti-choice activists packed up and left. They took their camera with them.
We suspected this was a ruse, and it was. They returned in greater numbers. I still consider this a win. They were also forced to leave in order to get more supporters, and most importantly they did not bring the camera back.
There was one more occasion in which an anti-choice campaigner attempted to accost a woman leaving the clinic, but she was obstructed. The anti-choice group made no more attempts to interact with women coming or going from the clinic.
They then concentrated on praying loudly from across the street. At 3pm they packed up and left.
During the day there was some media interest. Prime News interviewed a number of people in the morning, and a journalist from the Border Mail arrived in the afternoon.
I consider the day a clear win for those of us defending women’s rights at the clinic. The anti-choice group clearly did not expect to be resisted for a second week. We received good support from passing drivers, and a number of people stopped to thank activists defending the clinic.
Three weeks ago we lived in a town where a group of religious fundamentalists could picket a fertility control clinic and harass women seeking help and advice with impunity. This is no longer the case.
This report is just one person’s account, and is no way an official position of any group, or the gathering as a whole! Also, ongoing updates are being posted to twitter using the hashtag #albchoice. Please share widely, no rights reserved.