Last night, September 25th, I attended the City Council meeting in Aurora, Illinois to support the new Planned Parenthood facility in my neighborhood. From the outside of the building, where over 300 of the clinic's supporters were gathered, compared to perhaps 30-50 of the anti-abortion protesters, it all looked just peachy. Once inside, however, the view was a little different.
Several days before the scheduled City Council meeting, I called the number provided on the Planned Parenthood website to ask the mayor to sign the occupancy permit, then called and requested to speak at the City Council meeting and was put on the list. At that point I thought all was fine, and girded my agoraphobic loins to get up in front of strangers to make my salient points on why this clinic is important to the community.
I arrived to find the protest outside well underway. The pro-choice side had a sizable crowd filled with a cross-section of the community, the balance being young women. They were all holding signs that said "This family supports Planned Parenthood" and chanting slogans such as "Our bodies, our lives" and "Keep it legal, keep it safe". The anti-abortion forces outside were scant and almost entirely men. They all had signs, too, with such slogans as "Fox Valley doesn't need Planned Parenthood" and "No Abortion". There was a guy there with his pre-teen son, both holding homemade signs. I can't remember all the content (and thanks to my panic over having to go out in public, I forgot my camera), but in the upper left corner was a swastika and in the upper right corner a hammer and sickle, implying that pro-choice supporters are fascists and communists. There were reporters and camera crews scattered liberally in the crowd.
I milled around for a bit, then made my way to the door and the police officers stationed there, gave my name and address, showed my ID and was checked off the list of speakers and allowed to enter. I assume that you had to be signed up as a speaker to get inside. If I'm wrong on this please correct me, but I saw no one entering without first being checked off the speaker's list. I was there early, as instructed, so I could get a seat. I went in and picked what I thought would be a good spot for a person like me: a seat on the edge of the row, isolated from the rest of the row by a pole. In other words, I had a seat with no one on either side of me. At this point the room, with maybe 200 seats available, was less than half full. As the room began to fill, I thought perhaps my choice of seating was a bad idea. I was in a sea of fundamentalist Christians. But it became apparent that it didn't really matter where I was sitting, I would have been surrounded no matter where I sat.
Two rows in front of me was a very vocal man in his late 20's or early 30's and his pregnant wife. I listened to him bloviate on his beliefs about Planned Parenthood, the deception used by the clinic to get into town in the first place (more on that later), and his political thoughts (a totalitarian regime of leftists is trying to take over the community. Oh, the irony!). "RedStater," I thought to myself. Sitting directly behind me was an earnest, outgoing man from an unusual class I call "hippie ministers". I'd say he probably does more for the members in his congregation and community than most, his dedication was apparent. He was talking to several people about how he'd had a long chat with the Mayor in his office that day, the same Mayor I'd called to urge to sign the petition. Anyone want to guess which action held more weight?
The meeting began around 6:00pm. I won't bore you with the details of the agenda, a panoply of the type of things you'd expect at such an event. The one item of note was a lone speaker who stated that he's a member of the Minutemen, bemoaned the number of immigrants in the area (the legal immigrant population in this area of Chicagoland stands between 30% and 40%) and asked for legislation to be passed to limit this awful calamity. He looked like he might be from Italian stock, which made me want to ask him how he thought the immigrant status of his ancestors was more valid than the Hispanics in the area. At this point I felt the unmistakable signs of a panic attack creeping up and discretely took a Xanax.
It took about an hour and a half to get through all the scheduled business and get down to the brass tacks of why this room full of people, packed in tighter than sardines in very small tin can, was there. A 10 minute recess was taken, at which time, for reasons I cannot fathom, a sizable portion of the Planned Parenthood supporters, already outnumbered, left. I stayed in my seat and listened to the fundie crowd around me. As people returned, the spots vacated by the Planned Parenthood folks and those who had said their piece on other issues were taken by more anti-abortion types. By this time, it was standing room only, the walls were lined on two sides three deep, and there were enough TV and video cameras to blast the entire Chicagoland area with a blow by blow look at the action to come.
The crowd inside was in inverse proportion to the one outside. Of the maybe 250 people in the room, I'd say that maybe 30 of them were Planned Parenthood supporters, and that's an overly generous estimate. Because of the number of people who had signed up to speak, there was a three minute limit put on the length of remarks of each speaker, a time limit of three hours for discussion was set and the speakers had to be from the community and speaking on their own behalf. Three names were called at a time to come to the podium and take their turns.
As the commenting began, I started taking notes of the name of the speaker, whether they were for or against the Planned Parenthood clinic, and their stated reasons. Of the first 12 speakers, only two were Planned Parenthood supporters. I was becoming dismayed but still hopeful. The ratio for the next 6 turned out to be the same, 1 in support, the rest against. It was at this point that I stopped noting down exactly what the reasoning was for being against unless it was something unique and just began listing them as either Canard one, two or three and strawman.
Canard one: Planned Parenthood deceived both the City Council and the members of the community by falsifying their permit applications. Their deception is wrong, both morally and legally, and should be punished by denying the permits and destroying the building. Planned Parenthood is known for being deceptive. If this deception isn't punished and the clinic is allowed to open, then we can expect all businesses applying for permits to be deceptive because the City Council let this happen. Why, I'm a business owner and I had to answer the questions honestly to get my permit, and I resent that Planned Parenthood isn't being forced to do the same. What kind of example are we setting for the children?
Canard two: There are myriad services available to women throughout the area. Lots of them are very affordable and include all the things that a woman could need. Women are in no danger of going without needed healthcare services due to the abundance and affordability of adequate healthcare. Thus, we must conclude that Planned Parenthood is only interested in promoting and performing abortions, targeting minority populations for genocide. They push everyone to have an abortion, the adoption referrals are only a ruse. They also target the teen population. Planned Parenthood's stance of not notifying parents when a child comes to the clinic for whatever reason surely supports this. If the clinic is allowed to stay, Aurora will be known as the abortion capitol of the world.
Canard three: Planned Parenthood proposes a dangerous threat to the neighborhood, which they obviously knew when building the facility due to the fact that bulletproof glass and drywall were used in the construction. By circumventing the permit process used for non-profit organizations, they denied the community at large the opportunity to voice objections, which would have stopped the clinic in its tracks before construction began. The surrounding neighborhood is now at risk, with innocent individuals subjected to possible arms fire or bombing if things get out of hand.
Strawman: Abortion is an abomination, the bible tells us so. Anyone who supports Planned Parenthood will burn in hell. Abortionists and their supporters are murderers and should be treated as such. Promoting birth control and safe sex only encourages immoral behavior, particularly among the children, whom Planned Parenthood targets. This country is founded on religion, which should trump all. Look at this huge crowd of (cheering and clapping) God-fearing people. This is our community, we are the majority, darn it. We will continue to demonstrate "peacefully" and we won't be going away, no matter what you say and do. We will do whatever it takes to make life miserable for anyone who works at the clinic, anyone who supports the clinic and anyone who uses it. This isn't a threat.
I use the canard label loosely, because in each instance there is just enough truth to give it some validity in the eyes of those looking for an excuse to can the clinic.
Regarding Canard One: Planned Parenthood did use deception when filling out the permit applications. Using the name Gemini Office Development to act as their own contractor, then filling out the forms in that name and stating that they did not yet know who the occupant would be, Planned Parenthood misled the City Council. And by applying for a "for profit" permit instead of the "non-profit" permit that requires public hearings before the Council, they certainly appear to be trying to circumvent the system. Their explanation, that they were trying to avoid the kind of abuse and rancor, including outside agitators, harrassment, and possible violence, that they now face is valid. But by doing so, they have placed the clinic, not to mention it's supporters, in jeopardy. Those of us who would like to see the clinic open are now in the position of having to defend their deception, a position that as a person who counts honesty as more than just a virtue, I must admit I resent this and find difficult to defend. Fully half of the clinic's defenders said as much in their own comments. By going this route, Planned Parenthood has given the anti-abortion foes the ammunition needed to block the clinic, ammunition they would not have had otherwise. The fight appears to be just as ugly as it would have been, if not moreso, had Planned Parenthood been honest from the beginning.
Regarding Canard Two: There are many services available to women in this area for gynecological services. Most of them require insurance that the high immigrant population doesn't possess, and to pay for those services out of pocket is very expensive. There are also services available that are very cheap, if not free, for many services. The difference lies in the kind of services that aren't available now, i.e., birth control counciling and STD screening (with the exception of the health department), and abortion services. Since the abortion foes are opposed to these services, they see no need that they should be provided.
Regarding Canard Three: Planned Parenthood did have bulletproof glass and other safety measures installed during the building process. Given the history of attacks on their facilities, doctors, staff, supporters and clients, this would seem like a very reasonable course of action. While there is a neighborhood on two sides of this facility, it is separated on one side by a wide street and on the other by a sizable parcel of open field, and is a reasonable distance from the other businesses in the area. The parcel on which the clinic sits is zoned for a facility of this kind. The danger lies not in the clinic itself, but in the anti-abortion protesters themselves, some of which are outside agitators and very unsavory characters, to say the least. Their concern about the safety of the community is valid, but by supporting the protesters, these community members are supporting the very dangers they claim to fear.
Note: The strawman needs no examination, it stands alone.
The audience was treated to quite a display from the anti-abortionists, who had a full range of speakers present. There were angry speakers, weeping speakers, funny speakers, manipulative speakers. Three were many ministers and mothers, one kid, an elected official, a doctor, a couple of nurses, and average joes. The clinic was called a monument to fraud, its existence an act of moral turpitude, just like Auschwitz, a genocide machine used against the black and Hispanic communities and compared to lynching. Its supporters were called a group of racists, Nazis and/or fascists, evil, inherently evil, profoundly evil, enablers of immoral behavior, child abusers, and responsible for the breakdown of the moral fabric of the community.
The pro-choice forces, by contrast, spoke about the services available and the necessity to the community of those services. One woman, who was very angry, told of being harassed, followed home every day and abused from afar. Another woman, a Methodist minister, said that however she might feel about abortion it wasn't her right to push her beliefs on anyone else. It was pointed out that abortion is legal and the law of the land since 1973, and that the majority of Americans (approximately 2/3) support some form of abortion rights. The separation of church and state was brought up on three occasions, eliciting snickering from the crowd around me, who view the world as a twisted game of rock/paper/scissors, with religion trumping all comers. The pro-choice arguments were fact-based, accurate and impassioned. There just weren't enough of them.
At the halfway point of the meeting, we took another 10 minute break. As the recess began, one alderman came down from his perch, walked straight past where I sat and began shaking hands, chatting and laughing with a group of ministers directly behind me. And I was angry. Not just a little angry, but burst into flame angry. But not for the reasons you think.
Yes, I was not at all happy at what I'd heard from the anti-abortion crowd, but it wasn't anything I hadn't expected. It was apparent that those who spoke truly believe in their cause. I haven't listened to so many sermons, prayers and bible quotes since I was fifteen and went to a Pentecostal Youth Convention.
There wasn't anything fishy going on that I could see as far as the fairness of the City Council's approach to allowing commenters to have their say, there just weren't many pro-choice supporters who had signed up to speak. The street outside was still full of pro-choice protesters, but the City Council saw none of that, not until they went home and saw the news. What they saw was wall to wall anti-abortionists, what they heard was a consistent variety of arguments that were cloaked in some vague semblance of truth. Indeed, Karl Rove himself could not have done a better job of keeping this crowd on message. It was a well-oiled machine of right-wing, fundie talking points.
What really pissed me off was the lack of opposition to the anti-abortionists inside the City Council Chamber. Yeah, the rally outside was good, but who, exactly, were we trying to influence here? I'm all for protests. I work daily at Road2Dc trying to promote effective, sustained protest both locally and nationally. But the City Council is looking for an excuse, any excuse, to shut this down and make it all go away. Unless there are numbers in front of them speaking out in support of Planned Parenthood and the clinic they will flush this thing, and be quick about it. Of the 30 people who spoke up to that point, only 10 spoke out in support of the clinic. We needed big numbers both inside and out.
I went outside, took another Xanax, and called my sister to vent. My sister, bless her heart, is passionate when she talks about pro-choice and other issues of a political nature, but her only action is to vote. She talks a good game, but when push comes to shove, you'll find her in front of the TV watching Project Runway and reading fashion magazines. I'm sure my screeching could be heard several blocks away. I told her in plain, crude language that I was mad as hell at her and anyone else who mouths the damned words of support but can't get up out of their chairs and really provide support when push comes to shove, including the online community. And I told her that she could tell all her pro-choice friends that were lounging at home that they were on my shit list. Then I hung up and went back inside.
The rest of the meeting was more of the same. There was one interesting thing that happened to me close to the end of the comment session. There was a young doctor who gave a well researched and thorough comment in support of Planned Parenthood. I really liked what he said, but I hadn't caught his name because the crowd was still cheering the last anti-abortion speaker when he stepped to the podium. His seat was behind and to the left of me, and he had to pass me in order to get to it. As he approached I motioned him closer so that I could ask his name. He stopped about two feet away from me and leaned towards me as I leaned forward so I could speak to him quietly. As we both leaned in, a very large man stepped in between us, threw his elbow in my face and thrust one of those pictures of an aborted fetus in the doctor's face. Although I've never seen this man before, I'm fairly certain who he is, and if I'm correct, he's one of the top outside agitators.
His elbow hit my glasses, and my response was to reach up, touch his forearm and say, "Go away."
He took a step away, looked down at me and said, "Would you like to be arrested for assault?".
"I touched your arm," I said scornfully.
"That's assault!!", he said loudly. "Would you like to be arrested for assault?"
At this point you could have heard a pin drop, even on the carpeted floor. "Go away!!", I said loudly in response. I stared straight at him. I could see the cops out of the corner of my eye watching, but they stayed put. The man backed off, but by that time I was shaking with anger. The poor doctor gave me an apologetic look and took his seat again. The Council members all took a collective deep breath and the next speakers were called.
After that, I took to adding "blah, blah, blah", "yada, yada, yada", "boohoo", and a host of expletives to my canard/strawman narrative. There really wasn't much more to be said. I waited for my turn to speak, knowing that in all likelihood it would never come. I was right. Of the 57 people who had spoken when the meeting was adjourned, a total of 12 of them had been in support of Planned Parenthood. The other 45 speakers were all in the anti-abortion camp. So what the City Council saw, and no doubt what they'll base any future decisions on, is a 4/1 ratio in favor of disallowing the clinic to open.
What conclusions did I draw from my fruitless exercise in free speech? To start with, I'm disappointed in Planned Parenthood on several counts. The deception they used in applying for the necessary permits has given the anti-abortion forces a leg to stand on, and they are standing, believe me. It's also left those trying like hell to defend the opening of the clinic hanging in an uncomfortable limbo because it's hard to defend the deception, however well-intentioned it might have been.
While the protest was glorious to see, that wasn't the only place that action was called for. There should have been an organized effort by Planned Parenthood itself to pack that Council Chamber with positive voices in support of the clinic, including candidates for office, elected officials, doctors, nurses and long-standing members of the community. Putting out the call in a small blurb on your new website is not organizing. It's a good thing, but not nearly enough to matter. I heard that there were calls made to people who signed up as supporters on their website, but I never got one. I went because it was the right thing to do.
There also should have been members from Planned Parenthood itself there to stand up to firmly and clearly state why this clinic is necessary and defend their actions. Leaving it to a handful of people to make those explanations is not going to help their cause, especially when some of it goes against their own principles. It was brought up by several of the opposition that there wasn't anyone there from Planned Parenthood. Yes, they would have been given a very rough time. But that should be expected and should be dealt with head on.
And to all of those that comment and write diaries about this issue but don't show up when something like this comes up, shame on you. Talking and writing diaries is good, but the City Council isn't going to read your diaries and they're not listening to you talk unless you show up and do it to their faces. There's a real disconnect in this community and in the Democratic party in general when it comes to taking real action. The assumption seems to be that calling your representatives at any level of government, writing letters and diaries, chatting amongst ourselves and with family and friends and throwing a bumpersticker or two on our cars will have some kind of impact on any given situation. Maybe it will, but it won't make the same kind of impact that showing up and making them look at you and listen to what you have to say will have, however awkward and inconvenient it might be for you, no matter how you try to parse it. We're in a pickle from the very top of our national government right down to the local level and for all intents and purposes, right now we're invisible. Visibility is what we need desperately. We need to be visible anywhere and everywhere we can be; in-person, in-your-face, vocally and loudly visible. Protests are very good and necessary, IMHO. But being in front of those with their finger on the eject button, where they can see the look in your eyes and hear the tone of your voice, is better.
This Planned Parenthood, pro-choice, Roe vs Wade fight is one I've fought before. It was a battle from the very moment it started, and it has not abated. In fact, it only gets worse as time goes on. And it's only one of 1000 other battles going on out there aimed at taking away those rights we used to take for granted. Do you really want your rights stripped from you by a very vocal, very aggressive minority? Do you think if they manage to strip away one that they'll stop there? Who do you think is going to save these rights for you? Is a handful of middle-aged, agoraphobic grandmothers and over-stressed, under-appreciated activists really who you think ought to be doing battle for you? Wouldn't it be better to join them and lend your voice rather than hope they manage to pull off a magic trick on your behalf? Who will you blame when those rights are no longer yours?
Had I written this last night when I came home, it would have been far more ugly for me and anyone who read it. As it is, I expect flames. Come ahead on, I say. But unless you intend to have your ass sitting in a seat in front of your elected officials in the very near future, then don't go down that road.
Citizens of Aurora, Illinois, next week I'll again be sitting in my seat in front of the City Council, jotting down names, canards, strawmen and anything worth noting. I'll be awaiting my turn to speak out in support of Planned Parenthood, defending them as best I can under the current circumstances. Where will you be?
UPDATE: I called to put my name on the list of speakers for next week, but was told that next week's meeting is on a special issue and that there will be no comment period. However, I did sign up for to comment on the following week, October 9th. And I now have an email from Planned Parenthood directing people to attend next week's meeting anyway, just in case. If nothing else, it will bring pressure on the City Council. Here is the information for the next two weeks:
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007
Meet at City Hall at 4 pm. The earlier you can get there the more likely you are to be able to join us inside (the meeting itself starts at 5 pm).
City of Aurora
44 E. Downer Place,
5th floor conference room
Downtown Aurora
Tuesday, October 9th at 6pm.
Phone: 630-844-3615 (City Clerk's office, they take you name address and phone number and put you on the speaker's list)
City Hall
44 Downer Plaza
Aurora, IL. 60505
I also want to refer you to this comment post by Planned Parenthood with further info regarding the permit issue and related newspaper articles. Call and get your name on the list to speak at these meetings if you can. I will continue to call daily to see if they will open a comment period on for the Oct 2nd meeting. Please do the same. We need all hands on deck.