While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, it comes with the expectation that one’s opinions will at the very least be based on logic and reality, considering the overall context and the long-term perspective.
That is, unfortunately, not always the case.
A woman on TikTok has been posting videos of her confrontations with pro-life protesters, with one woman in particular becoming an example of how problematic the issue really is.
More info: TikTok
One of the more difficult things is to volunteer as abortion clinic escorts, who confront pro-lifers on the daily
Image Credits: Riley Jo Obrien
A woman by the name of Riley Jo Obrien, who’s an abortion clinic escort—a volunteer who helps clinic clients enter and leave the facilities, keeping harassing pro-lifers at bay—has recently been going viral with videos of hers where she confronts what she referred to as an anti-choice extremist.
One such volunteer, Riley Jo Obrien, has been going viral lately with her confrontation with what she called forced birth, or anti-choice, extremists
Image Credits: Riley Jo Obrien
In particular, she asked the woman if she was affiliated with any charitable organization—like a soup kitchen or whatnot—after which she grew very uncomfortable and asked why she was asking.
Obrien explained that a lot of people who claim to be under the ‘pro-life’ umbrella also tend to vote for programs that either cut or eliminate social safety nets that would help families into which these babies that pro-lifers are fighting for would be born.
Image Credits: Riley Jo Obrien
She gave an example of a mother benefiting from food stamps—a woman benefiting from it might choose to keep her child and not have an abortion, if she knew she could get help from such safety net programs. But instead, with people who end up at abortion clinics, rosaries in hand, claiming these ‘welfare queens’ are leeching off of the welfare system, it’s easy to see where the problem is.
You can see the woman stumbling for words throughout the confrontation, blurting out “there’s nothing wrong with focusing on one issue” after Obrien explained why that is exactly the issue.
In part two of the video, Obrien continues explaining the fact that many current mothers or mothers-to-be know what is best for their lives, and it necessary to look at the whole picture.
Image Credits: Riley Jo Obrien
“So those mothers should be allowed to choose when and where they’re gonna have children. Those mothers should be allowed to be given that option. They already know what it takes to have a child, and so if they say ‘you know what, I can’t handle another one,’ they should be allowed to say that and do that and make choices that are right for their family.”
She continued arguing that should a woman’s life be at risk, they should be able to choose to not risk it to ensure the safety and security of the children that are already here. Throughout the video, people can see the pro-lifer either standing around, or trying to talk, stumbling for words.
Image Credits: Riley Jo Obrien
The video concludes with another blurb by the anti-choicer and Obrien saying “No, I’m done talking to you.”
The now-viral videos collectively got over 1.8 million views (part 1 and 2 below)
The comment section was pretty active, to say the least. For the most part, people sided with Obrien, giving their arguments, whether biblical or not, and explaining that these words are falling on deaf ears anyway.
Others, however, played the devil’s advocate and pointed out that she had been talking over the pro-lifer, which is, if anything, rude, and that she should have at least let her explain herself in full. As it happened, though, it looked more like the pro-lifer was being bullied.
The videos soon found themselves on Twitter, where people were very vocal about it
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Whatever the case, the videos featuring the pro-lifer and her silent partner garnered over 1.8 million views and over 180,000 likes.
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Since Obrien volunteers quite regularly, she has loads of other videos confronting protesters, including this very unsettling (cringy, creepy, you decide) encounter with a woman who seemingly entered a stare-off with her and started “miming”. Or you can just check out her entire channel here. Or if you want more abortion-clinic drama, try this.
But before you go, let us know your thoughts on this in the comment section below!