Posted on 06/29/2013 10:22:26 AM PDT by Morgana
FULL TITLE: Stanek wkend question: Should pro-lifers feel responsible for businesses negatively impacted by protests at nearby abortion clinics?
Dont forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of this post!
image
In January Jivin J reported on pro-abortion Portland, Maine, businessman Mike Fink, who began sponsoring counterprotests and offering free food to abortion supporters who rallied against pro-lifers protesting in front of the Planned Parenthood next door to his restaurant.
But Fink has decided to throw in the towel. According to the Portland Daily Sun, May 6:
Mike Fink, pawnbroker, notary public and owner of Mikes restaurant at 437 Congress St., and Guitar Grave pawn shop at 441 Congress St., Portland, announced Monday that he would not renew a lease for Mikes Restaurant, blaming turmoil caused by protesters outside of a neighboring Planned Parenthood clinic.
Ive decided to close the restaurant and sell the equipment if I do not find a buyer. I have also lowered my asking price to $10,000, which is close to the value of the equipment and inventory. I am very close to giving up selling the restaurant because every time anyone sees the stupid anti-abortion protesters they decide to NOT consider this location, Fink wrote in an email message.
More from TheForecaster.net, May 14:
Last winter Fink attracted widespread attention for staging what he called anti-anti-abortion rallies, in which he asked people to carry signs or honk car horns to show their opposition to the anti-abortion demonstrations.
More than 100 people, including dozens of protesters on both sides of the divisive abortion issue, showed up for the dueling demonstrations on Jan. 4. But after several more of the counter-protests, Fink said, things just got worse.
He eventually called off his protests.
imageThe more I protested, the more people came, and the worse it got for clients (of Planned Parenthood) and my customers, he said. So I decided I needed to ignore the protesters. Its like reverse psychology. .
For another business on the block, Antoines Tailor Shop & Formal Wear at 435 Congress St., the protests are less of a problem.
It hasnt really affected us, said Perry Perkins, assistant to the store owner, noting that his shop also opens at 10 a.m. I cant say that (the protesters) are really loud, and its been generally peaceful.
However, Perkins who lives in an apartment in the building said that there are occasional problems, and that residents often leave by the buildings back door to avoid the protesters.
A lot of us dont like it, he said. I havent heard a positive thing.
imagePerkins said he understands Finks frustration.
When the protests started, the first thing I thought about was Mikes, because thats a food place and those pictures are disgusting, he said. I couldnt eat my food if I had to look at that.
What are your thoughts on collateral damage inflicted on businesses located near abortion clinics where pro-lifers are protesting?
I think this is the wrong question. Should businesses think twice about locating next to abortion clinics is a better one.
In January Jivin J reported on pro-abortion Portland, Maine, businessman Mike Fink, who began sponsoring counterprotests and offering free food to abortion supporters who rallied against pro-lifers protesting in front of the Planned Parenthood next door to his restaurant.
Why should the prolifers feel bad? This evil man deserves God’s curse.
We have a consumer-driven marketplace. What a business markets results in profits or losses.
It’s hard to sympathize with someone who thinks every live birth is a failure.
If I were looking to set up a business somewhere, I’d be glad of the warning that an abortion mill operates in the area. I wouldn’t want my business anywhere near that.
I can’t say I feel much sympathy for the pro-abort whose restaurant business is negatively impacted by its proximity to an abortion mill. He needs to recognize (but probably won’t) that whatever his personal feelings are, his callousness towards women and babies is a minority opinion.
Um... did you mean “pro-aborts”?
You are nuts!
It is those that support abortion that had best fear their ultimate meeting with Christ, Christ, who chose to come to earth as a speck in the womb of a young teen virgin.
It should be fair warning to businesses that if they lease, they must have an “escape clause” for a named list of businesses that if they lease nearby, could harm the first businesses franchise.
This could include quite a list: establishments that serve liquor or have live music performance, head shops, pawn shops, discount and charity stores, medical clinics of several types as well as “family planning” or abortion clinics, stores with significant amounts of paints, compressed gases, or volatile chemicals, etc.
Nobody has forced those businesses to be near the abortion provider. I can think of it both ways: guilt by association or opportunity to distance yourself and capitalize on the protests.
Sorry, but sob stories on poor businesses that are “hurt” by freedom of speech means that those businesses are not capable of defending themselves from the market forces. The free market is darwinist by nature; either adapt and survive, or be extinct!
There is an old house that used to house an infamous abortion clinic in our area. The abortionist died several years ago, but the house still stands. It’s in a commercial part of the area. Now an air conditioning shop is located in the house, and they new occupants know what used to go on there, but feel no problem operating out of this building. I don’t know how anyone with any sort of feelings at all could, in good conscience, run a business out of a place that killed so many babies for so many years.
I stick by what I said, re read what you said. I think you might have meant pro-abortionist instead of pro-lifers.
I wonder if it’s haunted?
Yose I knew what you meant so I just didn’t say anything....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.