Should have the same again this morning!
Showing posts with label Albuquerque. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Albuquerque. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Albuquerque Becomes Latest Focal Point in Abortion Wars
At the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum, three dozen people, many of them teenagers, arrived last month without warning. A group of young abortion opponents calling
themselves the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust staged a protest last
month at the New Mexico Holocaust and Intolerance Museum. Wearing T-shirts that said “Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust,” they
demanded that the museum include an exhibit on what they called the
“American genocide” of legal abortion, and fanned out to scatter cards
with pictures of bloody “late-term abortion victims.”They then moved outside to picket with a banner calling Albuquerque “America’s Auschwitz.”
Albuquerque has become the latest flash point in the abortion wars, with Operation Rescue,
the militant group based in Kansas, calling it the “late-term abortion
capital of the country.” This is because a private clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options, is one of only a few nationwide that offers abortions after the sixth month of pregnancy.
A pitched political battle is now under way. After failed attempts in
the Democratic-controlled Legislature, abortion opponents have collected
enough signatures to hold a referendum over whether to make Albuquerque
the first city in the country to ban abortions at 20 weeks after
conception, just as a dozen states have done.
Abortion rights advocates see an ominous parallel with events in Kansas
in recent years. Operation Rescue moved its headquarters to Wichita,
Kan., in 2003 and labeled it the late-term abortion capital to
underscore the group’s campaign against a clinic there run by Dr. George
R. Tiller. In May 2009, a gunman killed Dr. Tiller in the foyer of his
church. Operation Rescue leaders, who had denounced violence, said they
had no connection with the killer.
The drive for a city referendum has been led here by a couple who
trained with Operation Rescue in Kansas and moved here three years ago
as anti-abortion “missionaries.” “We felt called to come and serve in Albuquerque,” said Tara Shaver, 29.
She and her husband, Bud, moved here largely to find a way to shut down
Southwestern Women’s Options, she said. Ms. Shaver is the spokeswoman for a coalition
of Roman Catholic, evangelical and other groups pushing the ballot
initiative. City officials say the proposed 20-week ban is expected to
be put to voters this fall.
The Shavers’ newcomer status and close ties to Operation Rescue, which
is known for harassment of clinics, have become rallying points for
abortion rights defenders here. “The fact that they call themselves missionaries is really offensive,” said Joan Lamunyon Sanford, director of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and a leader of a coalition fighting the 20-week proposal. “We don’t need outsiders bringing in this kind of disruption.”
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Gay Couple Ordered to the Back of the Bus for Holding Hands: VIDEO
Ron McCoy and his partner, Chris Bowers, a gay couple who had just
flown in from Portland, Oregon for Albuquerque, New Mexico's Pride
Festival last month, received a horrible welcome to the city from a
driver on an airport shuttle bus, KRQE reports:
McCoy said he and his partner sat in the front of a shuttle bus, holding hands when a driver discriminated against them.
“I saw him look at us, look down at his hands and he looked so angry,” McCoy said. “He just blurted out at me, he goes, “'Okay, if you're going to do that, you're going to the back of the bus.'"
Shocked and not wanting to cause problems, the couple obeyed. Once the shuttle stopped at its destination, however, the couple asked the driver why he forced them to move.
“I said, ‘I think it was because you didn't like the fact that I was holding my partner's hand.' He goes, ‘See, now you're telling on yourself.’ My partner responds, 'Well, that's discrimination,' and the driver responds, ‘You're telling on yourself again,’” McCoy said.
A woman, originally from Albuquerque, witnessed the confrontation and jumped in. “I told the bus driver that I was completely appalled that anybody would be treated this way,” said Bernadette Aguirre.
“And the driver looks back at us and goes, 'I'll show you what's appalling,' and he points to us,” McCoy said.
“I saw him look at us, look down at his hands and he looked so angry,” McCoy said. “He just blurted out at me, he goes, “'Okay, if you're going to do that, you're going to the back of the bus.'"
Shocked and not wanting to cause problems, the couple obeyed. Once the shuttle stopped at its destination, however, the couple asked the driver why he forced them to move.
“I said, ‘I think it was because you didn't like the fact that I was holding my partner's hand.' He goes, ‘See, now you're telling on yourself.’ My partner responds, 'Well, that's discrimination,' and the driver responds, ‘You're telling on yourself again,’” McCoy said.
A woman, originally from Albuquerque, witnessed the confrontation and jumped in. “I told the bus driver that I was completely appalled that anybody would be treated this way,” said Bernadette Aguirre.
“And the driver looks back at us and goes, 'I'll show you what's appalling,' and he points to us,” McCoy said.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
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