Digby's Hullabaloo

And now for some good news…

by digby

I understand that some of my readers think it’s Pollyannaish to point out anything positive at a time like this, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the fact that some good stuff is going on out there. Man cannot live on bile alone …

Here’s something that makes me personally happy, since I recall the first “Summer of Mercy” back in 1991 and it was appalling. For those of you too young to remember, this was the hideous “Operation Rescue” campaign to terrorize women and clinic workers with hysterical ( a religious person might even say “demonic”) protests outside clinics. For some of us, it was a catalyst for greater political involvement.

The anti-choice zealots just held a Summer of Mercy 2.0,which just ended. And there’s some good news to come out of it:

[A]bortion rights and reproductive justice activists around the country took Operation Rescue’s threatened actions in Germantown very seriously. Grassroots activists and organizations poured our time, resources and hearts into supporting a “Summer Celebration of Choice” taking place Sunday, July 31, through Monday, August 8, declared by none other than Dr. LeRoy Carhart himself.

The result was, in a word, awesome. From about 7:00 every morning to 10:00 (or later) every night, activists from 18 states stood out in 100-degree heat, intense pouring rain and everything in between to stand with Dr. Carhart, his excellent staff and the women they serve with dignity, compassion and respect. At many points during those nine days we outnumbered the antis. Members of the community kept stopping by with doughnuts, drinks and thank yous for our service. There was no violence, the clinic stayed open, and we did a great job representing the pro-choice majority in this country in the face of an extreme onslaught of misinformation, lies and hatred.

Read on for her list of observations about what this means going forward. There’s a lot of good news there, but this one really made me happy:

Young women are already leading the bulk of today’s boots-on-the-ground movement for abortion rights, in truly intergenerational partnerships with older women. There is a lot of noise made in the news media about younger feminists not existing, not caring about abortion rights, or spending all their time being dismissed by older feminists. It would be nice if the reporters perpetuating that tired old storyline would have come to Germantown, because what they would have seen was obvious: Young women were the vast majority of those standing out in the streets — in leading and not merely supporting roles — in support of Dr. Carhart. It was young women working with feminist women and men of all ages who sent Operation Rescue home.

It’s true that there’s a nasty stereotype out there, mostly perpetuated by the snotty right wing harpy faction, that all that’s left of the pro-choice movement is a bunch of bitter old bags like me. It is fantastic to hear that this call to arms was taken up by the younger generation. It gives me hope, it really does.

*It must be noted, however, that much of the energy of the forced childbirth movement is now focused on the political systems of all 50 states. They aren’t going away.