Abortion protesters maligned, mistreated

How should someone under the conviction that human life is sacred respond to something like abortion? We know that lives in the womb are precious at the moment of conception because they bear the image of God; it is unjust to murder innocent life.

Mr. Richard-Thompson disagrees. Unfortunately, Thompson's view on abortion does not give him license to malign those standing outside Planned Parenthood. For instance, he writes that some "are deliberately hostile, verbally abusive and invade personal space. As escorts, we are trained not to respond in any way ..." Yet, the escorts have on multiple occasions committed every one of his accusatory claims.

This has included obnoxiously clapping right in our face, screaming at us and shoving us as we try to hand information to cars. It seems Thompson has either a poor memory of what actually takes place on Saturday mornings or is deliberately misrepresenting those he disagrees with.

We social distance as much as possible but at times recognize that we have moved within six feet of one another. The same happens with the escorts as they hold their own conversations. When an officer drives by and points out that we have ventured within six feet, we comply. Also, it should be noted that the only reason we would be within six feet of an escort is because they have moved into our personal space. We cannot go onto the Planned Parenthood property.

Lastly, Thompson finally tips his hand revealing the true pathos of his article: he does not want us there, and COVID-19 is an opportunity to shut us down. Essentially, Thompson wants 1st Amendment rights infringed upon under the guise of public safety. If that were the case, perhaps the volunteers at Planned Parenthood should have led by example and simply stayed home.

Tyler Turdici

Aurora