Illinois Right to Life Committee
SEPTEMBER 2007
September, 2007 Pro-Life News (see articles below): 09/28/07 Aurora abortion fortress still closed 09/21/07 If something is legal, does that make it just? 09/14/07 “Politics” a dirty word? 09/07/07 Planned Parenthood on defensive in Aurora
Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, September 28, 2007 Aurora abortion fortress still closed September 28th is the 11th day that Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois has remained closed because of the prayers and actions of concerned citizens from Aurora and surrounding communities. Since they have 18 recovery rooms within their 22,000 square foot abortion fortress, how many abortions were they hoping to commit per day? How many babies have been saved because of the ongoing prayers and actions of concerned citizens? On September 26th the nationwide 40 Days for Life vigil began. In Chicago, an onsite vigil began at the Planned Parenthood at LaSalle and Division where they have been committing abortions for years. This vigil continues daily from 7am to 7pm through November 4th. Because the first component of 40 Days for Life is prayer and fasting, please make a commitment to pray and fast for the success of this nationwide vigil that includes 89 cities in 33 states. If you are able to spend some time at the onsite vigil, please call Alicia at 312-751-5355 to schedule one or more days and times you can be present for the onsite vigil. If you are closer to Aurora, the 24-hour daily vigil continues at 3051 E. New York Street. You can check what hours need help by checking the Families Against Planned Parenthood web site. City officials in Aurora keep taking actions that suggest they would really rather let Planned Parenthood open. At the September 25th Aurora city council meeting, new information was presented that Planned Parenthood needed a special use permit to build their facility because of specific zoning law provisions that apply to non-profit organizations. Eric Scheidler stated that since Planned Parenthood had not complied with these requirements, their building was not authorized and should be torn down. The next day a spokesperson for Aurora claimed that those zoning provisions did not apply to the land where Planned Parenthood built. However, Eric Scheidler points out “Unless there’s some very unusual document which the City has failed to cough up despite numerous FOIA requests over the past three months, PP can’t legally do business at 3051 E. New York Street.” Can concerned citizens get the Aurora city council to make the right decisions through their prayer and actions in spite of this apparent sympathy for Planned Parenthood that keeps popping up? Previously, they allowed Planned Parenthood to continue to occupy the building without an occupancy permit as long as they did not serve customers. They continue to raise issues that verge on denial of citizens First Amendment rights to oppose Planned Parenthood’s deceptive arrival into Aurora. However, Planned Parenthood remains closed for now. The Planned Parenthood Express locations in Naperville and Orland Park will also see witness and prayer vigils soon. You can join the vigil in Naperville on September 29th and in Orland Park on October 6th. Both vigils run from 10am to Noon. Planned Parenthood is not welcome anywhere because more people are recognizing they cannot be trusted.
Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, September 21, 2007 If something is legal, does that make it just? Prayers have been answered. The City Council in Aurora has responded to the concerns of citizens about Planned Parenthood sneaking into Aurora. Planned Parenthood has failed to convince a Federal judge that they have an unfettered constitutional right to open their Aurora abortion fortress without receiving an occupancy permit. The investigation into the deception used by Planned Parenthood to get approval to construct their abortion fortress will continue. But the Chicago Sun-Times, based on a 9/20/07 editorial, seems to think that religious fanatics are denying the women of Aurora their right to abortion. Apparently, abortion fanatics think that Aurora women are unable to locate an abortionist outside the boundaries of Aurora. At the same time, the editorial stated, “Abortion is a sad, desperate act. No woman wants to submit to it.” The author then reverses course by stating, “But when weighing the circumstances of their lives, some women see it as their best option. It is a legal option that shouldn’t be denied.” There is the difference between Planned Parenthood and pregnancy help centers. Planned Parenthood tries to focus on the circumstances of their lives to convince women that abortion is their only viable option. Pregnancy care centers try to help women change the circumstances of their lives so they can avoid the sad, desperate act of abortion. Which approach do you think is really helping women? Which approach is all about making money rather than helping women? Aurora has survived since it was founded without Planned Parenthood in town. How can abortion fanatics be so bold as to suggest that failure of the Aurora location of Planned Parenthood to open on September 18th prevents women from getting critical health services? Such thinking is totally illogical. Are we supposed to believe that women can only receive such services from Planned Parenthood? How have the women of Aurora survived without Planned Parenthood in town? Of course, supporters often try to justify abortion by pointing out that it is legal so it must be readily available. Would they apply the same logic to the Jena Six in Louisiana where the legal system has been called unjust for the punishment directed at six African-American teenagers? Of course not! The actions of the district attorney in Jena were legal, but thousands came to Jena to demand justice. Just because something is legal does not make it just. Abortion supporters may not want to admit it, but an argument based on legality falls just as flat as a defense of abortion. Defenders of life demand justice for the unborn by opposing abortion. Keep praying and witnessing that Planned Parenthood will stay closed in Aurora. The 24-hour prayer vigil continues at 3051 E. New York Street in Aurora. Register for a time slot at the Families Against Planned Parenthood and join the vigil if you can.
Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, September 14, 2007 Planned Parenthood apparently thinks there is a Federal law that prevents communities from discriminating against them. They will argue in Federal Court on 9/17/07 that Aurora “has become corrupted by politics.” Planned Parenthood attorneys will demand that the Federal Court force Aurora to allow the September 18th opening of their $7.5 million facility. They will argue that an ongoing investigation by Aurora into whether Planned Parenthood failed to comply with local ordinances cannot be justified, even though Planned Parenthood used deceptive means to obtain permits for building their abortion fortress at 3051 E. New York Street. Documents filed with Aurora were submitted by Gemini Office Development LLC and claimed that the occupant of the facility was “unknown at this time.” If a liquor establishment or a pornographic book store used deception to get a building permit near a residential area, would it be assumed they should be allowed to open without question once the building was complete and they revealed who they really were? Given that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the nation, pushes casual sex at any age, and tries to drive a wedge between parents and their children, why would a community not have many concerns about allowing them to open an abortion clinic in their backyard? Planned Parenthood thinks that if they want to build in a community, local residents should not be able to veto their expansion plans. To suggest that they do have community support, Planned Parenthood held a press conference on September 12th of “pro-choice” ministers. Of course, they got media coverage proclaiming, “religious leaders support Planned Parenthood clinic.” The only problem was that none of these religious leaders was from Aurora, or even a community near Aurora. Maybe Planned Parenthood could not get any religious leaders from Aurora to attend a downtown Chicago press conference, but they did get one who is actually a member of their board of directors. In fact, Aurora religious leaders are quite united in opposition to Planned Parenthood opening in Aurora. Many of them have attended the prayer vigils and marches showing that opposition to Planned Parenthood. Will we soon discover that a Federal judge thinks that Planned Parenthood has the right to move in regardless of the concerns of the local community? If so, we will see another case of a Federal judge creating a new law, an anti-discrimination law written specifically for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Chicago Area CEO Steve Trombley is quoted in the 9/14/07 Chicago Tribune, “It is time to put our patients before politics.” and “The entire process has now been politicized.” It seems he considers “politics” to be a dirty word. Planned Parenthood would never get political, would they? What do they think it means when they claim to have community support (even when they do not)? Planned Parenthood is deeply involved in politics. The only time “politics” becomes a problem is when they are losing, and they want help from a Federal judge to swat down those misguided individuals who would have the audacity of making a choice other than Planned Parenthood. As usual, Planned Parenthood shows they are not really in favor of choice.
Illinois Right to Life News for Friday, September 7, 2007 Planned Parenthood on defensive in Aurora Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards called Aurora Illinois “ground zero in the fight for women’s access to reproductive health care” in a recent email to supporters. Isn’t it nice to know that the efforts of Chicago area defenders of life have been noticed as far away as Planned Parenthood national headquarters? Planned Parenthood Chicago Area has posted a ribbon campaign on their web site. They are asking supporters to provide their name and address so Planned Parenthood can place a ribbon with their name on a tree surrounding Abortion Fortress Aurora. Their idea is to show welcome for their customers in the face of all the witnesses who have declared Planned Parenthood unwelcome in Aurora. They will probably need to invent names to generate any ribbons they end up placing on the trees. They apparently could not generate much support with phone calls to some Aurora residents, asking if they would place yard signs showing support for Planned Parenthood. The introduction to the Planned Parenthood ribbon campaign states that “the usual suspects in the anti-choice fringe have showed up in droves - more people are protesting this clinic than we've seen in a very long time.” It looks like they have discovered that the “anti-choice fringe” turned out to include many residents of Aurora, Illinois. To protect their expected victims (oops, they call them patients) from the “anti-choice fringe” Planned Parenthood has posted on their “Get Work” web page a volunteer position called “Center Escort” to “help ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have a safe and friendly visit” because “Planned Parenthood Health Centers and patients are harassed by protesters, who attempt to intimidate and hassle patients on their way to and from a visit.” Actually, we call it sharing the truth before or after the victim receives Planned Parenthood’s latest lies about virtually everything relating to human sexuality in their aggressive attempt to generate more business for themselves. Even though the Planned Parenthood Chicago Area refers to the ribbon campaign as a national effort, I was not able to locate the link on the national web site or a few other Planned Parenthood affiliate web sites that I checked. Maybe they are only using email to promote the ribbon campaign outside of Chicago. Thanks to the continuing efforts of Eric Scheidler, the “anti-choice fringe” will be conducting more activities in the near future, including a seven-day Jericho March that begins this Sunday, September 9, at 7 p.m. Every day for six days, just like the Israelites in chapter 6 of the Book of Joshua, defenders of life will march around the block that PP Abortion Fortress Aurora is on. Then on the seventh day, Saturday, September 15, at 9 a.m., the effort will conclude with a massive Jericho March. Participants will be split into battalions, some of which will march the full seven circuits (like Joshua's army), while others march a more modest number of circuits. Other future events include: Picnic and March on City Hall, 9/11, 5 p.m.; Husbands, Fathers and Sons Vigil, 9/18, Midnight-8 a.m.; and Clergy Vigil, 9/18, 8-10 a.m. Also, yard signs will soon be available that say, “Planned Parenthood: BAD for Aurora”.
|