In the wake of the SCOTUS decision over-turning Roe v. Wade, there were (predictably) protests all over. Just like always, these protests were done poorly and for the wrong reasons. Naturally there were folks on both sides of the protests that make them look like fools and take away from their credibility. Sounds like a broken record.
The inspiration for this article is the one which occurred in front of Our Lady of Wisdom on UL’s campus. There was the token viral photo which went around which most people have seen. If you haven’t seen it yet, feel free to look it up. It’s a wonderfully framed photograph showing part of a situation (because who ever needs context?) and giving the wrong connotation to what should be remembered as a poorly planned protest.
Our jumping off point will be the protest in question. These folks gathered outside of Our Lady of Wisdom on a Sunday morning, disrupting a Mass. The protest was planned outside of a Catholic church because “Because it’s undeniable in Lafayette, Louisiana, that these churches have an insane amount of power over a legislation and therefore an insane amount of power over people of color, impoverished people, the LGBTQ community and the list goes on” according to the star of the photograph. I will invoke Hitchen’s razor here to throw out that claim. This idea can only make sense to someone who willfully remains ignorant to what the Church does in our communities. Catholic Charities USA is one of the top charities in the country. That stands alone from all the Catholic schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, homeless diners, and more that do not fall under CCUSA’s umbrella. The fact is that the Catholic Church is one of, if not the biggest charitable organizations in the world.
Of course, any one who bothered to learn about Catholic teaching and practices would have known that anyway. It would be plain that the Church cares about all people regardless of sexual orientation, skin color, or wealth. But it doesn’t matter because even if they cited a legitimate reason to protest at the church, why choose Our Lady of Wisdom? There are 121 parishes in the Diocese of Lafayette. These protesters did not choose the largest parish in the diocese or the most well known. And then there were multiple protests at this same church, again ignoring common sense.
Common sense would suggest that the proper place to protest would be the location of actual legislation. Baton Rouge should be the target of protests, since it was Baton Rouge that wrote in the trigger laws regarding abortions. Here’s a fun activity: remind anyone who argues that abortion laws are written by white male Republicans that our state’s trigger law was written by a black female Democrat and signed into law by a Democrat governor. These folks do not know what they are protesting because they cannot be bothered to be educated. They only want to rely on their knee-jerk reactions, which we find time and again are the wrong reactions.
Let’s not forget the actual laws in question. People who are in the pro-abortion camp claim that the new laws are evil and doing anything from simply repressing women to opening a hunting season. This is again willful ignorance. Our laws are very easy to find and read. So are statistics. Our laws do not prohibit medical procedures which may have a side effect of terminating a pregnancy. Statistics show that the large majority of abortions are not done because the life of the mother is at stake, or even in those horrible situations of rape or incest. We can all agree that a woman’s body is absolutely her own, but we cannot ignore consequences. Pregnancy only happens one way.
Now the other side. The picture shows a white man in sunglasses looking intimidatingly at the young woman with the bullhorn. The picture only shows these two in front of Wisdom. It certainly looks bad and gives credibility to all those who complain about white males forcing or intimidating to get their way. Maybe it is a carefully framed picture. Maybe it’s actually a man trying to intimidate this protestor, which of course is not okay. Regardless of how the picture came about, it seems to justify part of this poor protest. The picture has given some amount of life to this event.
Let’s recap: these protests are poorly planned, occurring in all the wrong places for all the wrong reasons. Educating yourself on a cause you want to support is vitally important, as well as having a passing understanding on the side you are protesting against. Sex has consequences and the freedom to be careless or not in the bedroom does not justify giving a right to abort pregnancies. Medical treatments that terminate pregnancies are not abortions. There are always cameras around. Carelessness in the heat of the moment will certainly backfire.
Sources:
https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/article_f3d6b88a-f716-11ec-9f1a-63ba8178a569.html
https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-charities/?sh=171ffc7a5f50
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor
http://catholiccharitiesacadiana.org/history-cca
Bayou Observant 