Protests at Planned Parenthood have been less than peaceful

I am writing in response to a letter to the editor I read recently concerning the newly implemented protection being offered to patients seeking health care at Planned Parenthood in Everett. The description the writer gives of peaceful protesters who just want to talk to patients who are going into this medical clinic is absolutely incorrect.

Protesters have gone far and beyond just wanting to talk to patients. They have been seen to use megaphones to harass and humiliate women (but never the men) with volume excessive enough to draw complaints from nearby residents; these interlopers carry ugly and biologically incorrect signage, and some go so far as to stop patients in the driveway as they attempt to enter the property. (I’m not sure which day the writer showed up for a “peaceful” protest.)

Furthermore, conflating the legal protection offered to patients with whatever violence is happening in other parts of the state, as if women shouldn’t be afforded protection from harassment, distracts from the fact that a woman seeking medical care for whatever reason should not have to face a crowd of people who would presume to judge her motives, her reasons, and the relationship she has with her physician to make decisions about her health.

Karen Knapp

Snohomish