When Protecting Liberty Means Defending Your Enemy
"What if someone were to kill you!” This is one of the more common threats yelled at me and my fellow clinic escorts when we volunteer at Cleveland’s Preterm Abortion Clinic. Such terrorizing phrases come from a group of self-identified “pro-life” protesters, who wait outside the clinic daily to voice their dissension towards and disrespect for the clinic’s staff, volunteers, security guards, patients and women in general. They tell us that anyone associated with a clinic that provides abortions is evil. They are not interested in a discussion about what is constitutional, what promotes women’s health, or what is scientifically accurate. We have seen them celebrate when they see they make a patient cry. But as long as they do not occupy private property or physically harm anyone, they have a right to protest. Their judgmental protests – often crude and vulgar -- are protected under our county’s Constitution, the charter of our nation that the ACLU defends. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled repeatedly that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression, which means the government cannot interfere with the right to protest, the freedom of the press, or religious liberty.