Imagine that you are a woman who went to her doctor for medical assistance in recovering from a miscarriage and found yourself being bombarded by anti-Abortion fanatics because the doctor you were seeing also performed abortions.

What do you do to rightfully seek medical attention and avoid having your privacy invaded at the same time?

Karen Stewart of Des Moines, Iowa, started fighting mad in demanding justice for both yourself and others who were victimized in having one’s personal space violated.

Back in August 1993, Karen Stewart underwent a miscarriage which left her with emotional trauma from its effects.

She sought out medical attention from Dr. Herbert Remer, an Obstetrician/Gynecologist in Windsor Heights who was also locally known for performing abortions.

As with other abortion clinics, Dr. Remer’s office was openly picketed by the now-defunct Operation Rescue of Iowa.

In order to discourage women from either seeking an abortion or medical care, Operation Rescue of Iowa started obtaining addresses and phone numbers by writing down license plate numbers of any patient entering his office.

Stewart was not exempt from this horrible practice.

There are many alternative methods by which an organization can get messages across without violating another person’s privacy.

Well, well, well…

The public relations department of Operation Rescue of Iowa apparently haven’t found time to read any good books on ethics lately.

They would have actually learned something about engaging in common sense and respect while promoting themselves.

Too bad…

I guess that copying license plate numbers was the only truly intelligent they could really do. How moronic can these anti-abortion supporters get?

In turn, they, bombarded her residence with a graphic letter and phone calls which stated that miscarriages were considered abortions.

They also claimed that their actions were equally viewed as justifiable because she (as they said) “deserved” to suffer due to one’s personal beliefs. Stewart, who has never undergone an abortion, is Pro-Choice.

So what does one’s Pro-Choice stand has to do with a Pro-Life organization’s hell-bent mission to disrupt another person’s life because they abhor abortion as a process to terminate life-threatening or an unwanted pregnancy as well as a miscarriage?

Need some overdue retaliation?

Improve pre-and postnatal care for all mothers!

There are major fundamental differences between an abortion and a miscarriage.

Their definitions were found in the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

1. Abortion: the spontaneous or induced termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.

2. Miscarriage: spontaneous expulsion of a fetus before it is capable of independent life.

Apparently Operation Rescue of Iowa didn’t check the dictionary before going on a license plate “witch hunt.” It would have saved them the trouble…

Reproductive rights also carry two common perceptions of personal beliefs:

1.Pro-Choice supporters (like Stewart and myself) view abortion as an issue of individual choice that is privately made between a woman, her conscience and her doctor.

2. Pro-Life supporters (like Operation Rescue of Iowa) views abortion as both morally wrong and murderous acts of God, and will punish anyone who undergoes one is considered to be amoral for “killing a fetus.”

Their basic rationale also incorporates miscarriages.

Does the violation of personal space represent the right to:

1. Breech confidentiality between doctors and their patients?

2. Openly stalk someone through their driver’s license to further inflict greater pain by publicizing it through graphic mailings, phone calls, picketing in front of their homes,hanging wanted posters or committing murders?

Unfortunately, Operation Rescue of Iowa seems to think so.

Karen Stewart (who gave birth to a son in 1995) does not.

According to the Constitution, the First Amendment a.k.a. Freedom of Speech, which also does not give anyone the right to invade someone else’s privacy.

It has accomplished nothing.

A ruling on this matter is expected to be handed down in October.

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Adrian DeVore is a senior in food science from Newark, N.J. She has a B.A. in English from Rutgers University.