There is a troubling report out of Ireland that raises many of the concerns that we have discussed earlier about the erosion of free speech in the West. Bernadette “Bernie” Smyth is one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent anti-abortion activists and the founder of Precious Life, a pro-life group. She was convicted this week of two counts of harassment that stem from her picketing of the country’s only abortion clinic. The charges were brought by the clinic’s director, Dawn Purvis, who runs the Belfast branch of Marie Stopes. However, the line drawn in the case could create a chilling effect on political and religious speech in the future.
She had been picketing the site since its opening in 2012. Purvis however said that Smyth crossed the line in an exchange that they had outside of the clinic when Purvis asked them to stop harassing her. Smyth reportedly replied in what was described as an exaggerated Ballymena/American drawl: “You ain’t seen harassment yet, darling.” Smyth was also accused in court of “laughing menacingly” at Purvis.
Smyth reportedly denied the exchange at first, but even if it occurred, this hardly seems the stuff for a criminal charge. The concern is not just the curtailment of free speech activities but the selection prosecution over such encounters. It seems hard to believe that such exchanges do not occur regularly without making them into criminal matters.
The prosecutor also alleged that Smyth had been “moving around in front of the window, cackling in a witchy manner.” Criminal cackling?
The defense questioned whether there was real fear in the two separate incidents. It is hard to see how one distinguishes between normal laughter and laughing in an “intimidating and menacing way”.
The judge added to the discomfort over free speech by accusing Smyth of “deliberately and maliciously” slandering a police officer during the trial when she suggested that police officials had questioned professional conduct of the arresting officer. In light of that statement, the judge that “the range of possible sentencing may go from community service to imprisonment.”
That all seems incredibly heavy handed and reinforces the view that Smyth’s political and religious views may have influenced her treatment.
For many years, I have been writing about the threat of an international blasphemy standard and the continuing rollback on free speech in the West. For recent columns, click here and here and here.
The Smyth case creates a highly uncertain and troubling line for free speech in Ireland, particularly on one of the most divisive issues of religious and political speech.
Happy, I don’t minimize anyone. You have had some problems and I know how losing our mothers is one of the most difficult times for women. Everyone should work with their doctor before making any decision on using any medication, not just birth control. I have several doctors and make sure everyone of them knows about medication changes.
I was only 19 and she had an ectopic pregnancy when I was 14 which she had a copper IUD that was supposed to prevent and had terrible mood swings. See the comments on this regarding mood swings
http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/paragard-copper-iud-lawsuit-42314/
I was the one who took the pills away from her…..
happypappies – I just remember that back in the day the IUD had a lot of problems, or rather many women using IUDs had a lot of problems.
Paul C. Schulte please read the link and the 77 comments. I had one also and my friends had them also and the problems are still there. I I have been repeating this since I am blue in the face since Hobby Lobby and you all thought I was psychotic.
As I said, I took the pill for 40 years with no problems. My point was the difficulties your body goes through from abortions are many and some very serious. Abortions as birth control are not harmless.
Sandy I would appreciate you would not minimize my Mothers death and my relatives illnesses that might be associated with hormonal side effects, I really would. That is all I am saying. I have repeatedly said to you I would not use abortion as a method of birth control. I supported the Hobby Lobby personhood case so I don’t know why you are riding this with me.
Until you can get pregnant and have to face these goons just in order to get normal reproductive services
Somehow, murdering your unborn child, cutting it into little pieces while still alive (even though in womb) doesn’t seem to be a “normal” part of reproducing or much of a service to anyone than the murderer.
In fact, the act of abortion is the complete opposite of reproducing. When you reproduce something you have more than one of that item. When you kill your unborn child you are subtracting….not reproducing.
ccrider27. I’ll drive you there and protect you. You should not pass on those genes.
Hey Turley: Until you can get pregnant and have to face these goons just in order to get normal reproductive services, which is your right as a human being, maybe you should just keep your trap shut.
You get more inconsequential and ridiculous by the second.
ccrider27 – so, normal reproductive rights consists of killing babies? You don’t see the irony?
Dear Atheist Curmudgeon,
You sound like one very angry individual. I feel sorry for you. This blog, and many like it, are hear to voice opinions, examine various points of view, and to diplomatically debate in a civil manner. It’s called free speech, the very thing the article is about.
Bernadette Symth probably would have objected to your vasectomy too. She is a pro-life activist, just like Obama was a black neighborhood activist, Peta is an animal activist, the EPA is an environmental activist. Whether we agree or not, we listen to many activist groups and allow them to have free speech. It is up to us to decide whether we agree or not.
I hope you will enjoy this informative blog in the future.
Jane there is free and cheap birth control–for both male and female. They can often get it at schools or free clinics. Some organizations also hand it out. However, some people are careless or don’t think they’ll get pregnant and avoid taking it, then end up killing the fetus for their own selfish wants.
Tubal ligations can be done in hospitals after a birth, so theirs a choice there too. Many males refuse to have vasectomies because it takes away their “manliness,” or so some males argue.
My personal preference to “an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure,” is to keep the zippers zipped, the legs together and walk away when the time is getting to heated. It prevents pregnancy every time.
But dispensing free birth control, either temporary or permanent, is fought tooth and nail in this country by those without a heart.
If, we the people, in the form of our government, provided FREE birth control, and FREE tubal ligations and vasectomies for anyone who wants them, it would go a long ways to reducing abortions. An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.
You can also die as a result of pregnancy and child birth, end up brain damaged, in a wheelchair, and other long term health damage. It seems a bit much to expect anyone to go through the process in order to give the child up. But I don’t understand why this continues to be an issue when (in UK though not in Ireland) safe, reliable free contraception is available. Depo provera, the jab, is very non-intrusive, very reliable and does not involve killing anything as no egg is released. Also gets rid of periods too, another bonus.
prayerwarriorpsychicnot
You can also die as a result of pregnancy and child birth, end up brain damaged, in a wheelchair, and other long term health damage. It seems a bit much to expect anyone to go through the process in order to give the child up. But I don’t understand why this continues to be an issue when (in UK though not in Ireland) safe, reliable free contraception is available. Depo provera, the jab, is very non-intrusive, very reliable and does not involve killing anything as no egg is released. Also gets rid of periods too, another bonus.
WARNING: LOSS OF BONE MINERAL DENSITY
Women who use Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection may lose significant bone mineral density. Bone loss is greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible.
It is unknown if use of Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection during adolescence or early adulthood, a critical period of bone accretion, will reduce peak bone mass and increase the risk for osteoporotic fracture in later life.
Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection should not be used as a long-term birth control method (i.e., longer than 2 years) unless other birth control methods are considered inadequate. (See Warnings and Precautions (5.1)).
http://www.drugs.com/pro/depo-provera.html
happypappies – I had a student who had one of those contraceptives you have inserted in your arm and it releases over 6 months. She was losing her hair. I could not talk her doctor into taking it out.
Yes, there are always problems with contraceptives, but I think the risk should always be balanced against the damage risked in becoming pregnant and childbirth. Medical advice and monitoring is necessary. Some things are contra-indicated for some people.
My experience of depo is this. I was about the same age as Cherie Blair when she had her surprise baby in her mid-forties. Not wanting a similar surprise I virtually sprinted down to the contraceptive clinic to require sterilisation. I was aghast when the nurse told me what it would cost. She then suggested depo, which on the NHS was free. It worked for me so well that I was still taking it aged 51, at which point my doctor lost patience with me and told me to take the blood tests to determine if I was past menopause. The nurse at the clinic laughed when I was still taking depo post 50. She said, it meant I would go through menopause symptom-free – as happened – and another bonus. I was monitored for bone-thinning, but did not suffer from it nor any other bad effect, at the time nor afterwards. But yes – contraceptives are drugs, and insofar that they are effective they can sometimes give bad results. So all information is helpful and medical advice essential.
prayerwarriorpsychicnot
contraceptives are drugs, and insofar that they are effective they can sometimes give bad results. So all information is helpful and medical advice essential
You were fortunate – My mother died from side effects from old copper based IUD and I was very sick from Paraguard type – actually pre – see link
http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/paragard-copper-iud-lawsuit-42314/
Happypappies – you were fortunate
Sorry to hear that. When I was young I heard a lot of horror stories about the IUD from friends who were using them.
prayerwarriorpsychicnot
Sorry to hear that. When I was young I heard a lot of horror stories about the IUD from friends who were using them.
Yes, well, thank you….. Such is the roulette of the birth control when left up to women.
Happypappies
What would you suggest?
Definitely the woman must take charge. I took natural charge and total control and counted and during any dangerous time we did “other things” I don’t think most people do. I think the pill is definitely dangerous. But if you are healthy in your bladder and uretha which I was not the diaphram is the way to go because it’s totally safe and it protects from STDs also. Has been used longer than anything http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception-guide/pages/contraceptive-diaphragm.aspx
I did not mean to sound critical. People blame the woman for the outcomes and her decision. But women are just making the best of the bad situation they find themselves in. If the body of a woman was a car design, it wouldn’t be allowed off the drawing board. It is a death trap.
Contraception has not been perfected. But what is omitted from the contraception debate is the alternative. Ongoing pregnancies, each one increasing the risk of death and damage to the woman and a damaged baby. I have a sister and two nieces. Very healthy, never a hungry day in their lives, athletes, who had their children at the optimum age of mid-twenties. All would be dead now in childbirth, were it not for modern medicine and emergency Caesarian sections. Obviously they use contraception, and are alive and healthy. It was pregnancy that nearly killed them.
I used the diaphram when young, but later went onto the pill. It is sad that the contraception that a woman might want to use might not work for her or be dangerous for her.
I am sorry what happened to your mother, but women more reliably die of pregnancy which is the alternative. It is a price of being a woman, and I have never met a woman who did not resent it.
Thanks for the conversation. 🙂
You are welcome Prayerwarriorpsychicnot. I never had problems with my pregnancies as I was in tune with my body that way.
I took the pill for forty years and have no problems. There are so many methods of birth control. It’s a crime to use abortion as birth control. It isn’t good for hour body! Why would anyone think the pill is dangerous and abortion isn’t?
Sandi Hemming – Look at the warnings on the Pill – do not take if you have high blood pressure, stroke, breast cancer, migraine headaches or cerebral hemorrhage or aneurisms in your immediate family. My aunts and uncles had these things of course not the breast cancer and my Mom went with a Cerebral Hemorrhage. I am ectremely in touch with my body as I said and I have also said I would never abort. I was also a champion swimmer in my youth which is something I have never mentioned. So, these are the reasons I never used the pill. You don’t just take something because the nice doctor gives it to you. You research it. Same with the IUDs. the doctors minimize the side effects. I have had to be on one medication or another most of my life so I am extremely aware of these things.
Plus if you would have read any of my previous dialogs in Prof Turley’s Blog you would have to know I am going to be overly suspicious of any birth control after what happened to my guinea pig mother who when to Drs. Masters and Johnson. She was on the Pill also and it kicked her blood pressure over the top. That was in the 1960s
Also, every medication out there has incredible warnings. It’s a requirement from the FDA. If you listen to all the warnings in commercials, why ever take the medication? All medication should be monitored by your doctor for any side effects.
Karen S
I agree with these sentiments
I am against Indian bride burning, and infanticide, which happens globally.
I have not adopted any infants who survived an attempt at infanticide.
Am I still allowed to oppose or speak out against such savage practices?
We used to call this disturbing the peace. Abortion is legal here. It’s a personal decision. However, I’d like to see more babies born and given to adoptive parents. I know of one. It took an incredibly supportive family. She met her child later in life and has a relationship. Having abortions is not good for our health. It may be a simple procedure, but your body is getting ready to support another life. Hormones are created. The sudden stop is a shock to your system. It is invasive and your body reacts. It should never be viewed as ho-hum. And you should have a checkup,just like any other surgery. Our population is decreasing. Many couples choose not to have children. Many are aborted. I hear all this “war on women” baloney and wonder, are these advocates thinking of you as a person. Or just another add to the abortion numbers. Screaming and yelling is not the answer. Americans will not accept taking away something they’ve had, such as prohibition. I wish there were more advocates for the baby.
Paul,
Charlie – are you an anarchist in all things, or just the civility rule?
– Are there any other options?
Do you believe in traffic rules?
– Yes.
The three-point line?
– Only when LeBron makes it.
Sudden death overtime?
– No, but I do believe in “sudden” victory.
Grades?
– I prefer Pass/Fail, provided 90% is the dividing line.
The finality of death?
– Of course not. I believe our spirits live on, either in eternity with our creator–the rainbow-colored unicorn or her nemesis, the lady in the red dress with horns holding the pitchfork. Now, to some that probably sounds silly, but I read it on some ancient parchment so it must be true.
Charlie – 90% is a little high unless you are a gunner. 😉
Tom:
I am against Indian bride burning, and infanticide, which happens globally.
I have not adopted any infants who survived an attempt at infanticide.
Am I still allowed to oppose or speak out against such savage practices?
All the groups favoring anti-abortion should step up and adopt every child that would be aborted (for whatever reasons). Every day, more and more ‘unwanted’ babies to be adopted. After a few months to a year, they’d probably change their minds due to the fact that they just keep coming! If the women (who can’t afford them or need to abort them for whatever reason) don’t want them, and these groups feel so inflamed about it, then they should raise them and stop all the noise about it – put your actions where your mouth is! Otherwise, they need to let people make their own decisions. Birth is lethal, after all.
Tom – actually it would prevent couples from going abroad to adopt children. I know this is a common refrain of the pro-death group in the United States, but there are more than enough people willing to adopt the children. Right now there just are not enough US children to fill the need. It would certainly be cheaper than the IVF treatments to get pregnant.
Like AtheistCurmudgeon, I do not agree with–or even respect– the civility rule because it is an arbitrary restriction on free speech. As proof, there is no language that could be used here that I would consider uncivil or offensive.
But, unlike AtheistCurmudgeon, I accept the reality that this is not my blog and, therefore, I abide by the rule. Leaving is the other option, but why would I do that if such a rule–or the absence thereof–does not and could not offend me.
“Offenses” of speech can only be received by choice, never delivered by force. I chose long ago to evolve beyond such passive choices like automatically feeling offended. This has allowed me to open-mindedly hear and consider the views of all others, without regard to what words they choose to express them.
Charlie – are you an anarchist in all things, or just the civility rule? Do you believe in traffic rules? The three-point line? Sudden death overtime? Grades? The finality of death?
Curmudgeon indeed.
Another man who thinks he has a clue about how a woman controls her body.
emw – is that the best you have?
I find these protestors to be the same as the old slave masters of the south. They want nothing more than to control other peoples bodies. They are slime balls.
emw – the thought process to abort a human is the same thought process to enslave people. You have to think of them as something less than human. Blacks are subhuman so we can enslave them. Fetuses are not human so we can abort them. I think you are on the wrong side of the argument. It is the abortionists who are controlling womens’ bodies.