Health

Aaron Gouveia Confronts Brookline Anti-Abortion Protesters, Video

by NowPublic Staff | October 25, 2010 at 03:01 pm

1291 views | 0 Recommendations | 3 comments

Angry Husband Aaron Gouveia Confronts Anti-abortion Protesters Outside Clinic In Brookline, video

The story and subsequent video of Aaron Gouveia confronting anti-abortion activists in Brookline, MA with his cell phone camera evokes both sadness and anger.

Sadness because Aaron Gouveia and his wife were on their way for his wife's abortion. As Aaron Gouvela recounts in the blog the Good Men Project his wife was 16 weeks pregnant. and their unborn baby had a rare congenital defect, Mermaid Syndrome or Sirenomelia. The baby would have its legs fused together, and would have no bladder, and no kidneys chance of survival with Mermaid Syndrome, - pretty much zero per cent.

More than half the cases of sirenomelia result in stillbirth and this condition is 100 times more likely to occur in identical twins than in single births or fraternal twins.[2] I

So Aaron Gouveia and his wife made the difficult decision to have an abortion and on their way into the clinic in Brookline, Gouveia says they were greeted by anti-abortion protesters shouting "you're killing your unborn baby," which is where the "anger" part of the story begin to kick in. Aaron Gouveia picks up his story from here...

Hell is sitting next to the person you love most and listening to her wail hysterically because her heart just broke into a million pieces. Hell is watching her entire body convulse with sobs because she’s being tortured with grief. For as long as I live and no matter how many children we have, I will never forget that sound....

Across a crowded street, two people with “God Is Pro-Life!” signs and pictures of torn-up fetuses managed to drive the blade in even deeper. Again, I was left trying to console the inconsolable, feeling even more helpless this time, because I wasn’t allowed into surgery with her.

At this point Aaron Gouveia crosses the street and uses his cell phone camera to capture his encounter with anti-abortion protesters.

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Samantha Cash (not verified)

at 20:35 on October 26th, 2010

Such a terrible situation. People should just keep their opinions and beliefs to themselves. The world is a much better place where you just do what you want and no one bothers you with morals. That's why the democrats are in power. They understand that people simply want what they want. Enough of people telling us what's right or wrong! We know what's best and the government should support us and make sure that other stupid people don't get in our way.President Obama said it right, those small people are clinging to their primitive ideas of god. Such fools

Francisca Smith (not verified)

at 14:53 on November 9th, 2010

I feel bad for this guys with out even watching the video. I also feel sorry for the wife. Clearly the only insensitive ones here are not the demonstrators but the medical personnel that dehamanizes this couple by not allowing the husband to support his wife in the procedure. I have to say that I cannot fathom how it is less grief by aborting than by a stillbirth. A friend of mine had a child without a full skull and he was stillborn. Abortions can be pretty traumatic to the woman physically and emotionally. Many people feel they would opt for abortion to avoid having kids with down syndrome but actual parents of down syndrome kids usually feel blessed to have their child. I was told my child had a cardiac foci and probably would have a defect of some kind maybe down syndrome but he is healthy, normal and a huge pride in my life. I was heartbroken when the technician had to come in and tell me I needed to see the M.D. I cried on the way home. I thought for sure my kid would be special needs. Medical industry presents abortion like it is a natural choice or a panacea against heartache.

Marie Frances (not verified)

at 14:46 on December 15th, 2010

Anecdotes about your own personal experiences are nice, but they do not define every woman's experience with abortion. I can't know what it feels like to get an abortion or even to have a child, but suggesting that the medical professionals are the ones at fault is just ridiculous. He probably couldn't be in the operating room because it had to be a sterile environment, no professional wants to have someone looking over there shoulder to see what they're doing, and it's probably the policy of the clinic. You're generalizing about a lot of things in your comment and that's both biased and a misguided attempt to say "SEE!! I KNOW THESE THINGS BECAUSE THEY HAPPENED TO ME. I BET EVERYBODY FEELS THE WAY I DO!!!" When in fact, you couldn't know how the person next to you felt about anything until you asked them. Please don't insinuate that everyone is uncomfortable or suffering from trauma by getting an abortion. You're dehumanizing real people by grouping them together and calling them the good ones.