OPINION: Revoke The Business License of the GWC
This is a photo of myself cutting down condoms filled with rotting food hung outside the GWC by their own supporters. Full video is linked in the article.
From OPINION: Revoke The Business License of the GWC posted on Medium.com
As a Democrat, I urge the majority-Republican Greenville County Council to pass the resolution that Councilman Stan Tzouvelekas introduced this week that would revoke the business license of the Greenville Women’s Clinic abortion facility on Grove Rd. for being a nuisance business. This facility is a danger to the community, largely due to the actions of the protesters who work hand-in-hand with the Greenville Women’s Clinic (GWC).
These protesters violently harass peaceful individuals, including myself, who stand outside the facility or even on the other side of the road, silently praying, hoping, and encouraging people to choose life. We have a First Amendment right to do so — but these supporters of the GWC don’t seem to care. In fact, they seem to think it’s their right to trample upon us and our rights.
In the past, I have had the police wrongly called on me (for the ridiculous and untrue assertion that I broke one of their umbrellas while they were using it to block my sign). In addition, along with many others, I’ve also had multiple pieces of property stolen by these protesters. I’ve also had cowbells rung in my ears for more than four hours straight while merely standing quietly outside. When we try to move away from the entrance to the GWC, even going across the street, these protesters just continue to follow us and harass us.
They also disgustingly hang condoms filled with rotting food around the facility and even put up barbed wire at points to try to prevent us from exercising our First Amendment rights. A hazmat team had to be called out to the facility to clean up the mess. As someone who is very concerned about the climate crisis, I find this just unbelievable that they would intentionally put trash outside the facility.
This resolution is not about the legality of abortion in Greenville County. This resolution does not ban abortion in Greenville County. This resolution would revoke the business license of a specific business for being a nuisance. As the Councilman stated, there have been over three hundred 911 calls made about incidents outside the GWC, including the one about the umbrella incident, concluding in over twenty arrests.
Those on the other side of this issue say they are opposed to this resolution because of some of the non-abortive services that the GWC provides like Pap smears — but those services are provided at many other locations across Greenville County, including at the Piedmont Women’s Center just across the road from the GWC. The Piedmont Women’s Center also provides all their services for free. Who needs such a disruptive and uncivil facility when these other peaceful alternatives exist?
At this past Tuesday’s council meeting when the resolution was introduced, there was overwhelming support for it. When it was introduced, most in the audience erupted into cheers with only about one-third standing in opposition to it. Such a response is understandable: this facility is a nuisance and nothing but bad news for Greenville County and Upstate, South Carolina. We can and must do better than the GWC which is why I so strongly urge the Greenville County Council to pass the resolution to revoke the business licenses of the GWC.
Click HERE to send the Greenville County Council an email urging them to pass the resolution.