Is abortion a nuisance?

WE SAY Kansas Judge Jeffrey Goering’s classification of abortion as a “nuisance” misplaces the blame.

In recent weeks, a Kansas state court led by Judge Jeffrey Goering heard arguments in a civil case between Dr. Mila Means, a physician trained to provide abortions, and the landlord from whom Means attempted to rent office space to establish an abortion clinic in Wichita.

The landlord claimed that allowing abortions to be performed in her office space could pose a risk to her property, describing abortion as a “nuisance.”

The court issued a temporary restraining order barring Dr. Means from renting the property.  

But can a court really make the bold claim that abortion is a “nuisance”? Since Roe v. Wade, states have continued to regulate abortion providers, seemingly to restrict access to abortions.

However, this case directly contradicts abortion rights, suggesting that abortions themselves constitute a nuisance to business owners and society at large.

We say that the institution of abortion itself is not a nuisance (at least not as the court described). The annoyance instead lies in the peripheral effects of establishing an abortion clinic — masses of protestors prohibiting the regular continuation of business, higher insurance bills (because of the omnipresent fear of property damage to abortion clinics) and other negative side effects.

We therefore argue the possibility that those individuals claiming that abortion creates a nuisance to their community — anti-abortion activists who interrupt daily business to protest and create an aura of fear and danger around abortion clinics — may themselves be the nuisance caused by abortion.

This issue is particularly prescient given recent events in Wichita, Kan. This community, home to one of the largest and most vocal anti-abortion activist groups in the nation (namely, the Kansas Coalition for Life), is still recoiling from the death of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider gunned down by an anti-abortion activist. Currently, no abortion providers maintain a practice in Wichita, a situation largely attributed to constant fears of meeting Tiller’s fate.  

So we ask those same people that enthusiastically support the classification of abortions as “nuisances”: Are you yourself guilty of being the same?