Pro-choice activists have long argued that prayer vigils outside abortion clinics constitute a form of “harassment” towards women who come to terminate their pregnancies. There has been scant evidence of violent or malicious behaviour on the part of pro-lifers. Now, however, we have proof of at least one aggressive demonstration outside a clinic; only the aggressor is pro-choice – and a Pennsylvania state representative to boot.
Rep Brian Sims (pictured) used the smartphone app Periscope to film himself approaching a pro-life vigil outside the Locust Street Surgical Center, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia, a city in the state’s southeast. Sims approached a woman he referred to as an “old white lady” and a “racist, classist bigot”. He shouted: “Shame on you! Shame! Shame! There’s no faith that tells you you are right and everybody else is wrong. Don’t convince yourself that what you are doing isn’t extremely racist.”
