More than 200 protest
Orland Planned Parenthood

Sunday, March 5, 2006           (Daily Southtown)

By Dan Lavoie
Staff writer

Tina Mahar's thick rosary beads hung loosely over a bloody, 5-foot-tall picture of an aborted fetus.

The Tinley Park woman smiled as she scanned both sides of LaGrange Road to see the 200 other abortion opponents who spent Saturday morning protesting the recently opened Planned Parenthood Express clinic in Orland Park.

"We don't want (Planned Parenthood) in our neighborhood," said Mahar, 45, who is a member of protest organizer St. George Catholic Church. "Since the babies can't speak for themselves, we're here to speak for them."

The turnout more than doubled organizers' early predictions, with praying, singing, sign-carrying protesters lining the entire 14400 block of LaGrange, where the Planned Parenthood clinic is tucked in a strip mall.

Orland Park police guarded the clinic and questioned everyone who wanted to enter the strip mall parking lot, which also serves a Subway sandwich shop and a mortgage office.

Planned Parenthood volunteers in day-glo yellow vests were also on hand to escort clients into the clinic, though no clients were seen entering during the protest.

Volunteers and clinic workers declined to comment on the protest, instead handing a reporter a typed statement from Planned Parenthood Chicago Area vice president Tracy Fischman.

"There is an enormous need for health care services in this area, and by seeking reproductive health care services both teens and adults are acting responsibly and should not be harassed for doing so," the statement read in part.

Abortions are not performed at the clinic, though abortion referrals are provided. Women and teens can get low-cost or no-cost contraception and health counseling.

Planned Parenthood officials say that the 2,000 clients that have visited the clinic since it opened in September show that the site is needed.

But Orland Park resident Carol Zintak, who attended the protest with her 13-year-old daughter, said the clinic has made it too easy for young girls to access contraception and information about abortion.

"Most abortions are out of convenience," she said. "That's why we're here, to change the attitude."

Dozens of cars passing by the protest honked in support. One woman slowed as she passed the protesters and said loudly out her passenger window, "I'm glad it's here."

One man, who wouldn't give his name but said he was a member of the "counter-protest movement," walked through the crowd carrying signs that read "Sidewalk Counseling = Harassment."

"Sidewalk counseling" is what abortion opponents call clinic protests.

The protesters were overwhelmingly female and largely silent, except for the occasional gospel song.

The abortion debate was played out instead through signs, with the counter-protest movement man the only one representing abortion rights supporters.

Among the protesters signs:

"Planned Parenthood Lies to You," "Abortion Kills Children," and one — with portions held by three protesters — said "Planned Parenthood's Plan ... Commit Abortion On ... Your Teenage Daughter."

But Subway manager Krystyn Katsibubas, 18, said she didn't understand all the fuss.

"I don't really think (the protest) is necessary," she said, then gestured to the clinic next door. "This place isn't even where they do all this stuff. It's just a quiet place."

Dan Lavoie may be reached at dlavoie@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5994.

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