July 2, 2012
So, this morning we had a team of a reporter, an intern and photographer out at Mississippi's only abortion clinic. It's the morning after federal http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/jul/01/breaking-federal-judge-blocks-clinic-closing/">Judge Dan Jordan issued an injunction keeping the clinic open until at least July 11 because, in part, the folks who pushed it made it clear that their goal was to eliminate abortion in Mississippi -- which they focused on far more than on women's health and safety.
What was funny this morning, to us, is how Roy McMillan (the man who sits in front of the clinic every morning with big fetus posters and other signs) yelled at my folks to tell me that "shoes are optional!" along with various other criticisms of the JFP's coverage. He was clearly referring to http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/jun/13/employers-shouldnt-dictate-birth-control-choices/">this recent JFP editorial, which I wrote a few weeks ago criticizing McMillan and his wife, Dr. Beverly McMillan, for trying to make any form of hormonal birth control, including the pill and the morning-after pill, illegal.
I ended the editorial: "Dr. McMillan is as welcome to those views as her husband is to sit in front of a clinic when he could be out helping children that are already born, hungry and unwanted. But it is not her place to tell hard-working American women that their health insurance should not pay for their health-care needs because she'd prefer that they get pregnant. Whether Dr. McMillan also prefers them barefoot is still an open question."
It's good to know where they stand on that question.
What was funny is that I drove by not long afterward, not knowing about McMillan's messages for me, and snapped some photos from my iPhone. An anti-abortion couple sitting next to the gate told me that they appreciate the JFP's coverage of the controversy because we report all sides and include comments from everyone. So, I suppose, the anti-abortion movement isn't filled with people who all think alike, just like the pro-abortion rights movement isn't. And I rather suspect there are a good number of folks out there against abortion who know that easy access to birth control will actually lower the number of abortions in our state and America. Unlike the McMillins, who don't seem to care about that point.
Meantime, I encourage everyone to read former JFP assistant editor Casey Parks' indepth feature on the Pro-life movement in Mississippi. It includes very interesting reading about the McMillans (they liked this story then, they told us) and other people inside the movement, including lobbyist Terri Herring.
https://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2012/07/02/roy_mcmillan_070112_t400x400.JPG?bc36c9b8f9781866a23964df3b6b85d1ea330811">Anti-abortion/birth-control protester Roy McMillan in front of the state's only abortion clinic July 1, 2012. He told reporters to tell me, "Shoes are optional!" by Donna Ladd
In response to:
No Apologies: Inside Mississippi's Pro-Life Movement
Bruce Stuckey and Roy McMillan are doing what many people would consider radical—standing outside the Jackson Women's Health Clinic in mid-September, protesting in the rain. They are flanked by a visiting group from Kansas City, young protesters with the word "LIFE" etched onto the red tape that covers their mouths.
Comments
donnaladd 11 years, 9 months ago
Oh, and he also told our reporter to tell me that Todd and I should get married. Because, you know, he likes to play God, I guess.
Abbeyrolled 11 years, 9 months ago
I've said it before. The radical right would sell Jesus to the Romans themselves if it meant abortion was outlawed. What would they care if they endanger the lives of women, or violate their rights. Oh, and there's nothing wrong with "living in sin". It's the idiots who get married three months after meeting, and divorced a year after that that screw up the "sanctity of marriage".
LoriG 11 years, 9 months ago
Remember when I was pregnant with Parks and he sent that letter to the JFP thanking me for "having my baby"? NUTSO. I had several run-ins with him last year. He's getting increasingly crazy.
donnaladd 11 years, 9 months ago
Yes, and he lectured a business woman I know in Fondren -- IN HER BUSINESS -- for not being married and having a child (with the man she was soon going to marry).
I can't imagine this Big Daddy-o crap helps their cause.
LoriG 11 years, 9 months ago
I don't think he's "sentient" anymore. LOL! The last rally that I spoke with him his speech had turned into this garbled "anti-choice rhetoric" or "talking point" stream of consciousness that really didn't make any sense. If you interrupted him, he just continued or jumped into the next talking point.
He brought the fetus signs to a protest and we had our children there. I covered Parks's eyes and said "Roy, this is inappropriate, we have our KIDS HERE."
He said, 'They know they're just dead babies..."
At that point I said (in all my professionalism), "Roy, YOU ARE CRAZY."
multiculturegirl 11 years, 9 months ago
I think I have stated this before about how at the Hell No on 26 and 27 rally he walked up to a little boy , about age 7, with his abortion porn and said "you should thank your mom for having you because this is how they kill babies". I don't know what kind of person you have to be to do that. I am a pro choice activist. I don't run up to random peoples young children talking about abortion. I am an advocate for safe sex and I don't talk to random peoples elementary school age children about it. He is a piece of work to say the least.
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