Amsterdam mayor confronts pro-life demonstration at abortion clinic
Mayor Femke Halsema went to talk to anti-abortion protesters outside the abortion clinic in Amsterdam on Thursday. She tried to make them see how they could be experienced as intimidating and asked whether they’d be willing to stand further away from the clinic. It was to no avail. The conversation resulted in little more than irritation, Het Parool reports.
The protesters currently stand 25 meters away from the entrance of the clinic on Sarphatistraat, where visitors park their bicycles or cars. Two men and two women stand behind a table with booklets and flyers on it, with a banner and a protest sign showing a baby in a woman’s tummy. They also film everything with a GoPro, including the women who visit the clinic.
The Amsterdam city council is currently discussing whether they can keep the demonstrators further away - like in The Hague or Arnhem, which have a 100-meter buffer zone. Halsema is in favor of keeping the clinic as accessible as possible and protecting already vulnerable women against harassment. But she is faced with a dilemma. The fundamental right to demonstrate applies here. As long as she can’t prove that these protesters are hindering healthcare, Halsema can’t move them further away without risking them winning court cases against the city.
Halsema asked the protesters why they were against abortion. One of the men explained with rhetoric that they were not against abortion but for life. Halsema tried again, with some irritation: “Okay, you’re pro-life. But why are you here? You wait for women who come here to get an operation in complete privacy.”
A female protester told the mayor that they were there to help women who had doubts. According to her, the women are grateful for them. She believes that the protesters are incorrectly portrayed in the media. According to her, they are not intimidating, don’t impose themselves on women, and are not aggressive.”
Halsema pointed out that women coming to the abortion clinic are “already vulnerable” and experience the protesters as intimidating. Some women avoid the clinic on days when the protesters are there, Halsema said. She asked whether the protesters can see that at least this group of women experienced them as intimidating.
But no. According to the protesters, they are not the perpetrators but the victims of intimidation. They record everything on the GoPro for their protection, they said, because people harass them when they pass by.
A community police officer who works in the area confirmed that the protests aren’t warmly welcomed.
Some other people also joined the conversation. Femke van Staaten, director of the abortion clinic, told the mayor that the protestors cause many problems for the clinic and that their presence is intimidating. A general practitioner pointed out that it is dumb to assume women show up at a clinic without considering their options beforehand.
When a protester pointed out that “money is made” in the abortion clinic, Halsema rolled her eyes and shot back: “People are helped” in the abortion clinic.
Realizing that the conversation was going nowhere, Halsema told the protesters that she would always do her best to guarantee the right to demonstrate. She asked whether they’d be willing to stand a little further away. One of the men countered that they’d rather be right next to the clinic’s entrance.
Mayor Halsema told the protesters that they were hindering healthcare and that she would look for evidence so that she could move them further away.
