Bangor Daily News<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s a rare find for Portland.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Unfortunately for owner Mike Fink, the deli happens to be located on the same street as a Planned Parenthood. In a world where women\u2019s reproductive health rights are respected, the location of a clinic shouldn\u2019t matter to a sandwich shop. Unfortunately for Fink and his patrons, we don\u2019t live in that world. The Planned Parenthood clinic was targeted by anti-choice protestors who badger people trying to enter or leave the clinic. It is not too surprising that business at Mike\u2019s Deli began to suffer when the protests started.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided kids holding signs of dead babies isn\u2019t good for business,\u201d said Fink.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But it isn\u2019t just the loss of business which is causing Fink to shut down his deli. He says that the emotional toll from dealing with the protestors has been too much for him: \u201cI\u2019m disappointed and tired of being upset.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For his credit, Fink didn\u2019t just take the harassment without a fight. Though he says he was never very political, Fink began organized pro-choice rallies in opposition to the anti-abortion protests. He gave out free coffee and sandwiches to people who came to support reproductive health rights. Fink has also been avid in his support of a 35-foot \u201cpatient safety zone\u201d around the Portland Planned Parenthood. The decision to implement the buffer zone won\u2019t come until fall.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This story has gotten a lot of media attention because we don\u2019t normally think about local businesses suffering as a result of anti-choice harassment. Yes, it is sad that Mike\u2019s Deli is closing because of protests. But the real tragedy is for all of the people who have suffered harm (emotional and physical) as a result of the protests. If the anti-abortion protesters are so extreme that people won\u2019t even get a cheap sandwich on the same street, then imagine how intimidating it is for the people who actually are going into the Planned Parenthood clinic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, it is important to uphold our First Amendment right to protest. But that right shouldn\u2019t mean infringing on the rights of others who are trying to receive or give healthcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does a rock-n-roll themed deli have to do with reproductive health? At first, it would seem that the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7told-d","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":827,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanwomensservices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}