This is where I think that opponents of abortion benefit from the example of the DSA. Cornering Nielse inside an expensive Washington restaurant, members of the party chanted “Shame!” and “Fascist pig!” for more than 10 minutes. They gave speeches in which they detailed the conditions under which the detained children were living. They did not seem concerned with whether what they were saying was civil or courteious. They seemed to recognize the gravity of what they were condemning, and they wanted to make sure that Nielsen did too. It is unclear exactly why but at some point the secretary left the restaurant, seemingly because she did not want to listen to them any longer. I think it would be fair to say, however, that she got the message.

My first thought on seeing the video of this incident was: Why don’t opponents of abortion do things like this? If they believe that someone is not merely complicit in but actually responsible for an unspeakable evil and this person is just sitting there, are quaint notions about civility and politeness really more important than the lives of children? Why should they settle with once-a-year marches or with mumbled prayers at a distance mandated by some bureaucrat? Why not find Cecile Richards, the former CEO of Planned Parenthood and public face of the abortion industry in this country, and recite statistics to her about — for example — the eugenicist views of Margaret Singer and her city’s appalling racial disparity in abortion rates? Would they be wrong to gate-crash a fundraiser for Tim Kaine, a professed communicant member of a body that teaches that abortion is a grave sin against the Fifth Commandment, and remind him that his views are both wrong in themselves and a cause of scandal among the faithful?