Stanek wkend question: Should pro-lifers feel responsible for businesses negatively impacted by protests at nearby abortion clinics?
Don’t forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of this post!
In January Jivin J reported on pro-abortion Portland, Maine, businessman Mike Fink, who began sponsoring counterprotests and offering free food to abortion supporters who rallied against pro-lifers protesting in front of the Planned Parenthood next door to his restaurant.
But Fink has decided to throw in the towel. According to the Portland Daily Sun, May 6:
Mike Fink, pawnbroker, notary public and owner of Mike’s restaurant at 437 Congress St., and Guitar Grave pawn shop at 441 Congress St., Portland, announced Monday that he would not renew a lease for Mike’s Restaurant, blaming turmoil caused by protesters outside of a neighboring Planned Parenthood clinic.
“I’ve decided to close the restaurant and sell the equipment if I do not find a buyer. I have also lowered my asking price to $10,000, which is close to the value of the equipment and inventory. I am very close to giving up selling the restaurant because every time anyone sees the stupid anti-abortion protesters they decide to NOT consider this location,” Fink wrote in an email message.
More from TheForecaster.net, May 14:
Last winter Fink attracted widespread attention for staging what he called “anti-anti-abortion” rallies, in which he asked people to carry signs or honk car horns to show their opposition to the anti-abortion demonstrations.
More than 100 people, including dozens of protesters on both sides of the divisive abortion issue, showed up for the dueling demonstrations on Jan. 4. But after several more of the counter-protests, Fink said, “things just got worse.”
He eventually called off his protests.
“The more I protested, the more people came, and the worse it got for clients (of Planned Parenthood) and my customers,” he said. “So I decided I needed to ignore the protesters. It’s like reverse psychology.”….
For another business on the block, Antoine’s Tailor Shop & Formal Wear at 435 Congress St., the protests are less of a problem.
“It hasn’t really affected us,” said Perry Perkins, assistant to the store owner, noting that his shop also opens at 10 a.m. “I can’t say that (the protesters) are really loud, and it’s been generally peaceful.”
However, Perkins – who lives in an apartment in the building – said that there are occasional problems, and that residents often leave by the building’s back door to avoid the protesters.
“A lot of us don’t like it,” he said. “I haven’t heard a positive thing.”
Perkins said he understands Fink’s frustration.
“When the protests started, the first thing I thought about was Mike’s, because that’s a food place and those pictures are disgusting,” he said. “I couldn’t eat my food if I had to look at that.”
What are your thoughts on collateral damage inflicted on businesses located near abortion clinics where pro-lifers are protesting?
[Top photo via The Forecaster; middle photo via Bangor Daily News; bottom photo via pressherald.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
replace anti abortion protesters with Abolitionists and what could you call him? a slave owner?
Why should I feel responsible for someone’s business at the doorstep of a concentration camp? I think if a business has no problem being next to a PP/abortuary, they deserve to suffer all of the consequences that go along with that decision. For businesses that are already in place and an aborutary moves in, they need to move out. Easier said than done I know, but we’re all called to protect life before commerce, for what profit is it to save your life, but lose your soul?
I have no sympathy for business owners who moved in after the abortion clinic was in place, as they should have anticipated the effect that this might have on their profits. When it’s the other way around, I do think it is unfortunate, but them losing profit is a morally far less serious a matter than abortion is. So I voted no in the poll.
I almost felt sorry for him, but he was staging counter protests which as he said only made things worse. If he would have tried to politely work with the protesters that would be a different story. Maybe ask them to direct the signs away from view of the restaurant.
I should also add that if pro-lifers declared business districts some sacred ground that must not be protested on abortion clinics would begin to disproportionately locate in them in order to avoid protests. Not exactly a desireable outcome from a pro-life prospective.
I imagine his business suffered because it must be difficult to eat there knowing that babies are being mutilated and murdered mere feet away. Hardly an appetizing thought.
If you are a business and an abortion clinic moves in, it can be difficult to sell – because you are next to an abortion clinic. Certainly not every business owner is at fault. Some are just trying to be neutral. (This pro-abort restaurant guy was clearly asking for it, though).
While we have a perfect right to hold our protests, we can be considerate and courteous to all business owners in the neighborhood. Don’t just assume that they deserve whatever they get.
For instance, keep the singing and praying to a lower level early in the morning. Don’t park in their lots without checking to see if it’s OK. (for instance, if he only has 20 spaces, and there are 15 pro-lifers, don’t just assume he’s OK with it). Don’t make them the subject of your protests unless you clearly know their position. Most people form their opinions of pro-lifers based on how we act rather than examining our reasoning. Let’s always act so as to win hearts.
I moved to Portland 16 years ago, when Catholic Charities had a huge storefront on the same main drag and PP was in the outskirts of town. We protested there on Saturdays and were glad when they closed, only to find PP was now on the main drag (Catholic Charities moved to the outskirts a couple years before – this is clearly a spiritual battle with consequences in the physical). Having lived in and around Portland these years, I had never even <heard> of this man’s businesses (Why <two> such divergent stores, one with a mention of the “Grave” in the name? I smell the smoke of The Enemy!) until the protests began. Today, a Catholic religious store, Ave Maria, which used to be right next to Antoine’s Tailor shop, but moved out of downtown a dozen years ago, is closing for good after 65 years. I pray for the Faith in Portland – the seat of the Diocese of Maine – and in all of America and the world!
Should the business owners be ashamed of themselves for being complicit in the slaughter of innocent human beings mere feet away??
YES!!!
Neutral=Complicit
I LOVE that the more Mike tried to organize “counter protests” the larger the prolife army grew!!
Amen!!
Maybe he should have been nice to the prolifers. After all, we go out to eat and tip well, too!
No sympathy for those who fiddle while children are being burned. Maybe they could enjoy their food better if they weren’t content to be at the Ground Zero of genocide.
The yelp rating for his business is pretty mediocre. Sounds like he spent more time dwelling on the protest instead of focusing on the business.
What would this restaurant owner do if the Planned Parenthood had disposed of the babies’ bodies by burning like Tiller did in Kansas? Or if their body parts started to back up the drains as have happened around other abortion places? Ashes falling from the sky … and the smell! Yikes or Yum-o?
Maine was also in the news recently for having more deaths than births. Note that this does not mean more deaths than conceptions. People there might take note that even Russia’s Putin is concerned about the lack of births in his country. It does not brood well for the future as this March 14, 2013 headline from the Portland Press Herald says:
“Maine faces a dilemma as deaths top births
The phenomenon, which could have implications for the economy, is in its second year and verging on a trend.”
One instance where the communists and religious folk agree.
Location, Location, Location.
It’s abortion clinic brings down the value and usefulness of nearby properties — not the pro-lifers who will always be present, defending life and offering real help to women.
Strip-show clubs, massage parlors, brothels, crack houses, abortion shops…. legal or illegal, they are going to bring down a neighborhood.
The abortion industry desperately wants to be accepted as a respectable business, and they blame the pro-lifers for their continued reputation of sleaziness. We are not the cause of their reputation; we just keep shining the light on it.
No way. That’s part of the whole point – to expose the clinics to all. The more uncomfortable it is for them, their neighbors and their landlords, the better. People will not want to lease space to them.
The signs are a graphic reminder of the reality that is going on inside the clinics. So, they have no problem dining next to that, but they don’t want to be reminded of the “unappetizing” goings on next door.
Please come join us at 443 Congress Street Portland, Maine as we bring the reality of murder to the businesses of Portland. “Here ends the apathy of ignorance. Here begins the responsibility of knowledge.”
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the lop-sided response to this question. People who are fine with showing grotesque images in places where children are likely to see them aren’t going to have any scruples about driving away small businesses as a side-effect of the same behavior. When it comes to promoting The Cause, the ends justify the means. That’s a perverse and desperate sort of moral reasoning for a movement that is mostly made up of self-described Christians.
We often recommend that the business owners put pressure on the killing place owners & operators, to try & get them out of their location. The children deserve the call for justice & protection & local businessmen & women should be outraged about the bloody holocaust next door … not the gentle Christians who seek to save the babies.
Gee, “self-described Christians” supporting innocent life over pro-choicer profits! Who’d a thunk it?
Mike is a lost soul. He is very confused and I did feel for him as he scurried from place to place dropping things along the way while he was organizing the pro-choice people. Pro-life people aren’t protesting anything but we are trying to save lives and spread the gospel as commanded by Christ.
Of course pro-lifers don’t feel responsible for businesses affected by their protests. That would require them to care about the well-being of somebody after the moment of his or her birth.
grotesque images
of exactly what, joan?
Of course pro-lifers should feel responsible, but they shouldn’t feel bad, really. Legal actions are permissible to stop injustice, even if it upsets some people. I have a lot of sympathy for businesses that were there before a clinic started up, but if you’re choosing to start a business next to something as controversial as an abortion clinic you can’t actually be surprised when your business is affected by controversy. If someone wanted to start a business next to WBC I would feel the same about them when they tried to complain about business being affected.
“Of course pro-lifers don’t feel responsible for businesses affected by their protests. That would require them to care about the well-being of somebody after the moment of his or her birth.”
It’s incorrect that pro-lifers don’t care about people other than fetuses. It’s really tired that people continue to say things like that, and rather ridiculous.
At least this guy was in the restaurant business not the “abortion” business. Running a restaurant is a tough business and not necessarily a money – maker. Abortion, on the otherhand, is big business with lots of money to be made. Later the pregnancy the more money. Blood money, but big money. Some of these “doctors” have multiple homes. Scary, but true.
“I have a lot of sympathy for businesses that were there before a clinic started up, but if you’re choosing to start a business next to something as controversial as an abortion clinic you can’t actually be surprised when your business is affected by controversy.”
There wouldn’t be a controversy if “pro-lifers” could just act like decent human beings and find a way to oppose abortion without doing things that harm the livelihoods of innocent people in the process. But, again, it’s no surprise that they can’t or won’t: if they’ll harass churchgoers at their places of worship, what’s a business owner or two? “Collateral damage” in a make-believe “war”, that’s what.
“There wouldn’t be a controversy if “pro-lifers” could just act like decent human beings and find a way to oppose abortion without doing things that harm the livelihoods of innocent people in the process. But, again, it’s no surprise that they can’t or won’t: if they’ll harass churchgoers at their places of worship, what’s a business owner or two? “Collateral damage” in a make-believe “war”, that’s what.”
By that logic, Occupy protesters who (however inadvertently in some cases) blocked people from getting to work/businesses from running as usual aren’t “decent human beings” for protesting what they perceived as great injustices. Or, for that matter, civil rights protesters who caused any type of legal disturbance in the sixties weren’t “decent human beings” either. Protest and freedom of speech and expression is protected for a reason, even if there is sometimes inconvenience to other people.
“By that logic, Occupy protesters who (however inadvertently in some cases) blocked people from getting to work/businesses from running as usual aren’t “decent human beings” for protesting what they perceived as great injustices. Or, for that matter, civil rights protesters who caused any type of legal disturbance in the sixties weren’t “decent human beings” either. Protest and freedom of speech and expression is protected for a reason, even if there is sometimes inconvenience to other people.”
Funny you should bring up OWS. I seem to recall reading opinions on this very site about how unacceptable it was for those protesters to disrupt local transportation and business (and to the extent that this happened, I agree; of course, most of the protesters were content to camp out in a park and hold up signs). I wonder what they think about “pro-life” protesters doing the same basic thing (and to small business owners rather than powerful Wall Street firms and the upscale Manhattan bistros that cater to them).
As for the matter of constitutional protections, spare me your strawman. I never said that “pro-life” protests are or should be illegal. This is a matter of simple decency and respect.
“Funny you should bring up OWS. I seem to recall reading opinions on this very site about how unacceptable it was for those protesters to disrupt local transportation and business (and to the extent that this happened, I agree; of course, most of the protesters were content to camp out in a park and hold up signs). I wonder what they think about “pro-life” protesters doing the same basic thing (and to small business owners rather than powerful Wall Street firms and the upscale Manhattan bistros that cater to them).”
I remember that, and I remember saying basically the same thing I’m saying now. And, there’s a difference between actively blocking traffic and such (which I am pretty sure is illegal depending on circumstances), and your mere protesting presence having a negative effect on surrounding businesses. Occupy protests that didn’t break any laws may have had a negative effect on surrounding businesses, but that doesn’t mean that they were doing anything indecent or disrespectful in a lot of cases. Sometimes customers just don’t want to be around controversy.
“As for the matter of constitutional protections, spare me your strawman. I never said that “pro-life” protests are or should be illegal. This is a matter of simple decency and respect.”
I wasn’t trying to strawman. Just pointing out that you have different standards for those you agree with and those you don’t.
“I remember that, and I remember saying basically the same thing I’m saying now. And, there’s a difference between actively blocking traffic and such (which I am pretty sure is illegal depending on circumstances), and your mere protesting presence having a negative effect on surrounding businesses.”
Well, you made the comparison. If you don’t think they’re comparable I don’t see why you would bring them up at all.
“I wasn’t trying to strawman. Just pointing out that you have different standards for those you agree with and those you don’t.”
In that case you have failed to make your point because I’ve condemned both kinds of disruptions. It’s not right to block traffic and it’s not right to hold up disgusting signs that will put people out of business because they had the misfortune of opening their store or restaurant near an abortion clinic that has been targeted for harassment. It’s the “pro-lifers” here who have obvious double-standards, not me.
And note also another meaningful difference that you’ve glossed over: the graphic images favored by abortion protesters versus the mostly text-based signs that the Occupy people used. I’d have less of a problem with someone holding up a Bible verse (even though it will most certainly be taken out of context) or a slogan than a picture of a mangled fetus. One of those things is entirely more likely to drive away customers at a restaurant, for example, than the other. A little restraint could mean the difference between a business having to shut down or not, but I guess that’s too much to ask for from the culture warriors here.
If he he had openly expressed support for the unborn he probably would have had a daily stream of pro-life customers. This guy lost any sympathy from me when he chose to start counter-protests against the protection of life.
I think that there needs to be sensitivity to business owners. You win them over with gentleness and humility and love, not with getting bigger and louder and snarkier.
The presence itself should not be obnoxious. There should be intense prayer when strategizing how to organize a presence and to interact with the businesses in the area.
If they are prolife, make a point of discussing with them what actions they can take to help stop the killing going on in their neighborhood.
If they are neutral, make a point of patronizing them, build relationships, talk to them about how you don’t want to harm them, just stop the killing going on nearby. If you have dirt on the clinic, so much the better. Make them aware of how inherently unsavory an abortion facility is.
If they are proabortion, treat them as you would a clinic worker that you are trying to convert. Speak gently. And PRAY.
I don’t like the poll options; they offer no reasonable compromise. I think we pro-lifers do not win hearts and minds when we drive others out of business through the use of graphic signs, loud singing/chanting/praying/calling out to clients of the abortion facility, blocking sidewalks, taking up all the parking, etc. It accomplishes nothing to refuse to be reasonable.
Also: “bad” behavior by pro-lifers doesn’t just annoy nearby businesses. It drives away other Christians who might otherwise join us on the sidewalk. Graphic signs have limited usefulness, and I will not participate in a pro-life rally or demonstration that uses them.
Boo-friggin’-hoo. Karma is a thing, this guy should enjoy every bit he’s earned.
I did not vote because there were no good options. I don’t consider this guy losing his business as unfortunate collateral damage.
Where was the choice “No, this guy had it coming cause he was actively arranging counter-protests.”
It’s incorrect that pro-lifers don’t care about people other than fetuses. It’s really tired that people continue to say things like that, and rather ridiculous.
Do you read this site? Clinic protesters care about fetuses and sanctimony. That’s it. But yes, I should have said “clinic protesters” rather than “pro-lifers” in my first post.
Here in Madison, WI, there are no public businesses nearby who are at risk of “collateral damage.” In the vicinity of Planned Parenthood’s abortion mill, there is a charming new Women’s Care Center. There is a coffee roasting factory. And there are residence apartments.
The apartment dwellers are the ones who might be disturbed. They are generally tolerant of both the abortion mill and the prayer warriors. A few of them are rude, but most are polite. Some bring us coffee.
There is a bar-and-grill that is around the corner from the abortion mill. They are out-of-sight just enough that their customers are not aware of the suffering that happens at Planned Parenthood.
As for the prayer warriors and sidewalk counsellors: We are there to help the women, not to engage the public. We are mindful to avoid disrupting the legitimate businesses and their customers.
Wow… I disagree that anyone who frequents a business next to an abortion clinic is implicit of supporting them. The local PP is in the same complex as the post office, a bank, and the oldest hardware store nearby. Boycotting these businesses would only hurt a lot of hardworking people and make doing daily errands impossible for some. All for what? To punish a hardware store for not altering their legacy over a separate organization they have no control over?
Ah yes, Joan. The defender of children. *smirk* Funny Joan how you’re more concerned with the LIVELIHOODS of innocents rather than the LIVES of innocents. Which is more important do you think?
I’m still waiting to hear about what joan thinks is depicted in those gruesome images? Aren’t they fake, joan? Show us a link to the real images.
If they picked sides, like Fink, then they aren’t passive bystanders. But I agree with other commentors, my sympathy is less if you moved in AFTER the abortionist. I’m very pleased by the politeness of 40 Days, but drivers-by don’t see any difference between them and the more graphic or loud pro-lifers. I don’t “feel good” when a business nearby suffers loss because of our presence. Sometimes, we have to experience discomfort when we do the right thing. Walking around pregnant, and dealing with the stigma that pro-not-really-choicers put upon them, isn’t comfortable for mothers.
Pro-choicers only care about women until they get their abortion. Post abortive syndrome? Nah, it’s all in your head, ladies. At least you fought the patriarchy.
Ninek, the end of your post reminds me of something I saw at my local PP 2 weeks ago. A husband SHOVED his wife through the clinic door when she hesitated (as if she wanted to come talk to us). They were walking up the sidewalk and she stopped when I called “Let us help you!” and she turned her head towards me and hesitated like she was considering it. Her husband literally SHOVED her through the door as the escorts stood there “shielding” them. Not one escort (who are all old white men, btw) said to the guy ‘Hey! Keep your hands off of the lady! It is her choice if she wants to go in or talk to the pro-lifers.” Nope. So much for women’s choice.
Anyhow, the last part of your post just brought that to mind. I was shocked when that happened.
If we didn’t care about people after they were born, the 40 Days for Life people wouldn’t have offered Abby Johnson a job after she left PP.
Certain CPCs that offer classes, baby clothes, and the like, wouldn’t bother doing that if they only cared about the human being while said human being was inside the womb.
If we ONLY cared about the pre-born and not about the born, chastity speakers wouldn’t bother with chastity talks (because the more sex people have the more likely there is for more pre-borns, which, if we only cared about pre-born humans, the more pregnancies the more pre-borns to care about).
If pro-lifers ONLY cared about pre-born, my family wouldn’t have offered a place for unwed mothers to be while they went through pregnancy, labor, and recovery (this program worked with a local adoption agency).
If pro-lifers ONLY cared about pre-born humans, then those who oppose euthanasia wouldn’t oppose it.
There are other examples, of course, but these were off the top of my head.
That idea that we don’t care about human beings once they’re out of the womb is simply untrue.
Maybe we can all learn from a happening decades ago. the USA and USSR were in this crazy one-upstmanship battle called The Cold War. The USA was ‘WINNING’: they bragged about being able to nuke every square-inch-of-the-earth 1200 times vs the Ruskies can only do this 900 times’ Hey sometin’ is really crazy here – I (all people) can only die once! Isn’t there a wee bit of overkill?’
so instead of wiping-out ALL LIFE (very real) the two countries signed a treaty. And we could ALL breath again … it was that close!]
One of the consequences of the treaty was that a small town in NM had too stop its only industry, that of making nuclear bombs. Were they correct? Is abortion used as the way to cull our species?
Sydney,
Please go to this site and print ALL of the materials and carry them with you when you sidewalk counsel. Your local Pregnancy Center should also have them.
http://thejusticefoundation.org/cafa/
It is illegal to force a woman to abort. There is a form that she can sign. There is a form for the husband. There is a form to let the abortionist know there is a woman who DOES NOT WANT an abortion.
We can do more for these women!!
If you are a business owner who is unfortunate enough to have an abortion clinic move in nearby, I feel for you. If you are a business owner who opened a restaurant across from an abortion clinic because the lease on the property was nice and low, or because you wanted to show your support for the clinic, I feel like you got what was coming to you. Here we have a pawnbroker & notary who decided to go into foodservice. Maybe his failure to remain open has more to do with the fact that pawnshops and restaurants are like apples and onions, not even apples and oranges. Perhaps he really has a passion for food and it was an appropriate business but the wrong area. Regardless, nobody would be coddling him if he were next to a petroleum plant. You assess the risks before you make the leap, and if you do a poor job of it, you have to start over. That’s business.
Regarding the signs, they wouldn’t be so “disgusting” or “grotesque” or any similar word if the truth weren’t so disgusting and grotesque. What we do to our own children is absolutely abhorrent. I’m not personally a big fan of the abortion photos on the streets; I feel like it’s best to encourage people to make the leap and go see the photos of their own volition. That said, the unfortunate backlash on local businesses is concerning and upsetting, but it isn’t a sufficient reason for silence, and that is the crux of the matter: which is more important? Local businesses or the Truth and the lives of our children?
much too often people tend to think the choice between PC and PL is an easy one to discern. My younger married-brother concerned with the readily offensive life presently offered him, asked me ‘Why would I ever allow my child into THIS-kind of world? ‘ What would you say?
The up-front beligerance between PL & PC, just proves the point of being poisened by the animosity.
As the Bishop of our diocese (Robert Finn) said: “This is War!”
And with war there is always collateral damage, it sucks. But really all of what you see on those signs is exactly what is going on inside of the clinic.
No one ever said that Truth was pretty.
J.M.J
Bye
My younger married-brother concerned with the readily offensive life presently offered him, asked me ‘Why would I ever allow my child into THIS-kind of world? ‘ What would you say?
Tell your brother, “If THIS kind of world is so terrible, the last thing you should be thinking about is creating a child together with your wife. Keep it in your pants and you will never have to worry about allowing a child into this world because a child of yours will never come into existance. It is in your best interest and the best interest of your wife to remain childless until you can become more adept at finding the positives in our world. All of your negativity can be transferred to an innocent child. Children are born seeing the wonder and joy and beauty in our world and will share that with you if you are open to them. Tell your wife you are going to find other ways to show your love for her until you start becoming more positive. If you need some ideas, I’m sure a few wives on here can give you some.
If you do make the choice to conceive a child, it is not your place to coerce or push abortion on the child’s mother. If you choose to conceive a child with a woman who you know is not 100% prolife, you are guilty if that woman chooses to abort. Abortion is a big part of what is terrible in our world and you can play your part by not adding to it.
Are you able to financially help out a mom and baby whose dad chose to abandon him/her? If so, you may see the positive you are able to bring to others that are worse off than yourself. If you are not able to help anyone else, find a counselor to talk to about depression and negativity. Stay away from news channels and the internet for awhile if you are focusing too much on the negative.
If counseling is not possible, The Counselor is always there. Sincerely ask Him (cry and beg on your knees if necessary!) to remove the darkness around you and to help you find some light.”
Free advice from a volunteer chastity speaker because I care about the born as well as the unborn. :)