Unruly
Anti-Choice Protesters Face Potential Arrest After Illegal Demonstration
STATE NOV 2,
2015 | 8:05PM DAYTON, OH
Anti-abortionists
attempted to interrupt a celebratory pro-choice rally in Dayton, Ohio this
Sunday. Offenders were politely asked to leave by the police, and as matters
escalated authorities had to resort to threatening their arrests.
Bryan
Kemper, leader of conservative group ‘Stand True’, was amongst the group of
rebels protesting against abortion at the scene. He was joined by a small group
of dissidents, who aimed to impede the pro-abortion rally. The rally, at
Courthouse Square, was lauding the successes of the non-profit ‘Planned
Parenthood’ health organization, as well as those of other abortion providers
in Dayton. Supporters had applied for a permit to gather in advance.
Around
an hour into the event, Kemper put down his sign and was seen taking photos of
the pro-choice supporters to use in promoting the ideology on his website. Kemper
also crashed the event wearing an insensitive T-shirt with anti-abortion
propaganda on it.
As
Kemper and his group closed in on the peaceful gathering, members of the
pro-choice rally began to feel uncomfortable, and called the Dayton police in
for assistance. According to the law, since rally organizers had a permit to
gather and hold a rally, the anti-abortionists’ invasions were illegal. They
were then politely asked by the police to leave to the sidewalk area outside of
Courthouse Square.
Protesters ignored these
repeated warnings of the police, and Kemper even accosted one police officer personally,
claiming that they were “denying him access to public property”. He stubbornly
insisted on this allegation, even after officials explained that Kemper and his
group were providing a menace to the peaceful rally with their aggressive signs
and uniforms.
Kemper continued harassing
the police, asserting that “he had no sign” even though it was visibly on the
floor next to him. He also showed no respect for authority, and demanded to see
the permit of the pro-choice group to have a rally. Eventually, the Dayton police
had to threaten to arrest him lest he become violent. At that point, Kemper and
his group began to panic and vacated the scene.
Also present at the illegal
anti-abortionist protests were members of Kemper’s family. His 10 year old son
was forced to hold “pro-life” signs and protest alongside his father. On the
signs of the anti-choice rebels were propaganda-like slogans and images.
Protesters also exploited “victims”
of abortion by showing images of them at the rally. This victimization of women
who have made strong choices about their bodies is used to claim that abortion
is worse for women, although this starkly contrasts reality: less than 1% of
women will experience a major complication from the procedure, and the risk of
death from childbirth is ten times the risk of death from abortion.
Given
the ubiquity of choice these days, naysayers like these seem almost medieval. They
are, however, still a frequent occurrence, especially in majority conservative
states like Ohio, which also scores lower than average on the Diversity Index.
Nevertheless,
incidents like these remind the public to make sure the basic human rights of
choice and freedom do not get taken from us.
Sources:
http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2012/10/08/examining-ohios-political-leanings/http://web.mit.edu/pro-choice/www/facts.html
http://healthresearchfunding.org/20-remarkable-pro-choice-abortion-facts-statistics/
http://www.comparativepoliticseconomics.com/conservative.html
Athena-- overall I really enjoyed reading both the original article and the rewritten one. I felt as if you effectively captured the wide spectrum of ideologies the media supports. I liked your use of descriptive verbs (e.g. "forced") to paint the issue in a different light. As a suggestion, maybe you could include more statistics that show how the states with pro-life sentiment are less developed. That's more of a bonus than a necessity, though.
ReplyDeleteHey great article! Got some nice extra insights from it, like how you used quotations to inspire that sense of doubt in the audience (like "he had no sign"). I feel like they can actually influence what people will doubt within the article and what they'll take as a solid fact. Also, love the way that you're pretty much saying they're backwards by saying "seem almost medieval."
ReplyDeleteOne comment I have probably is probably just my fault for being new to the issue, but i found it hard to figure out who you were talking about and i had to scroll up a couple of times just to be sure. I think anybody who was well informed in the topic wouldn't have that issue though.
Also, one thing i found interesting was how you changed the bias without really changing the actual purpose of the article. It felt like there's not that much of a use of Pathos in your article , and that keeps the news tone in it, thus hiding the bias. It just made me think, to when does an article stop bein just biased and instead change its purpose completely..?
This article is very well written Athena! I really like how in your introduction, you state that the police initially asked the offenders 'politely.' This immediately establishes how the police is not at fault when matters escalated and this manipulation of diction is seen greatly in articles so you imitated this technique really well. Something I'd do differently is add a quote from the police officer or from someone similar since this article portrays a bias favouring the law.
ReplyDelete