Bloody Images is Freedom of Speech?

Imagine walking down the street with your little sister, who is five, and seeing a booth with pictures of dead fetuses covered in blood. Would you be okay with this as an approach to stop people from getting abortions? Some people take this as a great method to stopping abortions. Others think that it is offensive no matter what the conclusion is.

Some people would think that using the pictures and fetuses in jars would be effective. Reality is harsh sometimes, but they would argue that it is a method that works to make changes that need to be made. If someone feels strongly against abortion they will use anything that they feel will work. They have a freedom of speech by law in order to be allowed to do these things; this justifies in their minds that what they are doing is right. Also, showing these things in public helps reach all audiences to prevent others from having abortions in the future. One woman in particular took her 15-year-old daughter just to see the images so she would understand what happens when someone has an abortion. This shows that some people do agree with them using this form of prevention.

The second view is from people who feel like this is too harsh for everyone to see. It is not right to force this on all citizens to see instead of allowing the people to choose. It could also push people away because it is so graphic and would have an opposite effect than what they want. It is not always a good method to show things like this to stop something; it could possibly encourage them to do it even more. It is also not fair for them to force children who are too young to see bloody images. It is taken too far in some ways; one woman, who is pregnant and has two other children, said that she sat down to have a conversation with the people in charge of the protest. She said that when she went to grab lunch there were bloody images near the food. This is ridiculous that they are surrounding people who obviously agree with them by these harsh photos, what is the point. I feel they should take their energy and put it towards the people walking into the clinics instead of people going to the mall.

I don’t agree with using this method of prevention in public. They do have the freedom of speech, but at the same time they need to understand there are children who have to witness the images that are too young. I think that it should be something people going to get an abortion could see before they go in to the clinic that way it reaches people that are actually considering doing it. It is something that needs to be taken more seriously than writing it off as freedom of speech. It also pushes into the issue of would a newspaper be able to publish these images, probably not. This to me means it should not be forced upon for all citizens to see.