I am conflicted about a petition happening over here to keep abortion protesters at a distance from clinic doors. On the one hand, I support the right to protest & the free expression of views in public places. On the other, this gets close to forcing people to listen.
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Also to harassment and intimidation of individuals who have had things shouted in their faces and been squirted with water. I supported the banning of Britain First from the entrances of certain mosques after they intimidated people going in and out.
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People have the right not to go to abortion clinics and mosques, of course, and can avoid protests this way, but this verges on intimidating people out of exercising their freedoms, reproductive and religious.
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Obviously, protesters who exhibit threatening behaviour can be arrested but I'm inclined to think that keeping them just far enough away not to get in people's faces isn't a terrible idea.
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Replying to @HPluckrose
But how far
? Measured in distance, or visibility (i.e. round a corner)? Based on walking routes from nearby public transport to the clinic?
And how would this decision map to something like Facebook ads targeted at folk likely to be thinking about an abortion? #shadesofgray2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @jam_silver @HPluckrose
(to clarify: I don't say this as a dig, nor to take a side. Just reminds me of the "fiddly gray areas" we discussed tother day, and I think it's interesting that it's hard to answer these questions generally, and particularly not clear where these sorts of lines are online)
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It's much easier online. If people could be exited or muted or blocked as easily in real life, there'd be no need for laws around harassment, intimidation, threatening behaviour.
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