I just received the following e-mail from Planned Parenthood of Aurora, Illinois.
Dear X,
Finally! Just minutes ago we received our occupancy permit from city of Aurora Mayor, Tom Weisner and we will be OPEN FOR BUSINESS TOMORROW!
Instead of holding a rally at city hall tomorrow night, we invite you to attend a press conference at our Aurora health center to celebrate our first day of business! Here are the details
What: Press Conference
Where: Aurora Planned Parenthood Health Center, 3051 E. New York Street, Aurora, IL
When: Tuesday, October 2, at 10 am
*We encourage anyone who is interested to attend the Aurora city council meeting on their own to monitor the discussion, but we will not be rallying outside city hall.
While it's a travesty that the opening of our health center became such a politicized issue, we never could have won this battle without the incredible support of pro-choice residents in Aurora, Naperville, and other local communities, as well as our supporters throughout the state and the nation. Thank you to every person that stood up for us at City Council, that rallied at City Hall, that gave a donation, that signed a petition, and that supported us in so many ways during this fight.
From the Beacon News Story online Clinic gets permit:
"As elected officials, we are sworn to uphold the law regardless of our personal emotional or even religious beliefs," said Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner at a press conference at City Hall. "Based upon the opinions of these three attorneys, the city of Aurora has no legal basis to deny Planned Parenthood an occupancy certificate."
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Barsanti said his office has no jurisdiction over city ordinances, land use or zoning, and he offered no opinion on those matters. He considers the review to be closed, and has returned all documents to the city of Aurora.
Weisner said the reports from Phillip A. Luetkehans and Richard Martens both concluded that Planned Parenthood misrepresented tenant information to city officials, but it was not enough to deny an occupancy permit.
This is great news, as far as it goes. The clinic will open tomorrow, and services will be available.
The mayor's office released the following statement:
Last month, serious questions were raised about whether Gemini Office Development and Planned Parenthood were forthcoming in their dealings with the city and followed all local laws. As Mayor, I felt that I had a responsibility to the citizens of Aurora to investigate those allegations and with the support of the City Council initiated three independent reviews of the process.
Earlier today, Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti cleared Planned Parenthood and Gemini Office Development of criminal wrongdoing. Both the Martens and Luetkehans reports indicate that Gemini and Planned Parenthood misrepresented certain tenant information. However, their reports also indicate that this is not a sufficient basis to deny an occupancy permit.
The Luetkehans report found that while a medical clinic is a permitted use for that property, medical clinics are excluded from performing major surgeries under the City of Aurora’s zoning definitions. Based on a review of this finding, the city has contacted Planned Parenthood for clear written assurance that only minor surgeries as defined by the Luetkehans report would be performed at this facility.
Over the last few weeks, the City of Aurora has been inundated with thousands of phone calls, letters and requests from people who feel passionately about the abortion issue. As elected officials, we are sworn to uphold the law regardless of our personal, emotional or even religious beliefs. Based on the opinions of these three attorneys, the City of Aurora has no legal basis to deny Planned Parenthood an occupancy certificate and thus the Building and Permits Division will move forward with issuing Planned Parenthood an occupancy certificate.
Luetkehans Report WARNING! PDF download
Martens Report WARNING! PDF download
Barsanti Opinion WARNING! PDF download
At the mayor's press conference today, it was stressed that no surgical procedures will be allowed to be performed that do not adhere strictly to the law regarding the type of activity that is allowed under the current zoning of the property. What this means in practical terms is at the moment a mystery to me, but I will be looking into it further to try to sort it out.
Beyond that, this fight is far from over. A group of 19 anti-abortion foes from the Aurora area as well as outside the area itself, including the well known instigator Eric Scheidler, has filed a libel lawsuit against Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, its CEO and Director Steve Trombley, and Gemini Office Development LLC. From The Beacon News:
The libel lawsuit is based on a letter sent to Aurora’s mayor and aldermen, and released to the press, and one or more advertisements PP/CA placed in the Beacon News, the release said, "accusing those who oppose their facility as having 'a well-documented history of violence and criminal activity' as well as 'advocating violence against both persons and property as well as other related criminal activity.' "
According to the release, the suit contends "these statements are not only false, but maliciously false and libelous."
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A cease-and-desist letter from Tom Brejcha of the Thomas More Society to Planned Parenthood after the first ad, which ran in the Beacon News on Sept. 6, was answered with "public statements and another ad that were more inflammatory and accusatory than the original," the release states.
And there will be a continued assault on the City Council to intervene, even though it would appear that it is out of their current jurisdiction.
Eric Scheidler, spokesman for both the Pro-Life Action League and Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood, said he believes that no matter what the investigations show, the matter should be put to a full City Council vote. "These are just recommendations," he said. "The responsibility still lies with the City Council to decide what to do."
The full council has not considered the clinic because only the three-member Planning and Development Committee was required to vote on the project. The aldermen on that committee approved the facility in November.
Unfortunately, these may be the least disruptive things that will happen where the clinic and the anti-abortion protesters are concerned. Instead of putting this matter to rest, it is likely to escalate the activities of the anti-abortion crowd around the clinic. Examples of this abound in the Chicago area, as well as elsewhere throughout the country. An example can be found in this article from the Chicago Tribune written by noted mystery writer Sara Paretsky of her recent experience:
I have been working around these protesters and their associates for 20 years, trying to help women get through their ranks into clinics for medical appointments. On a recent stint at an obstetrics-gynecology health center under siege on the North Side of Chicago, I was trying to escort a woman with ovarian cancer through the horde so she could see her doctor.
Part of the crowd surrounded us, chanting "Christ killers!" and "Baby killers!" Briefly, I felt the fear my grandmother must have known.
The police were watching the demonstrators block the clinic but doing nothing to remove them from the entrance. After five minutes, they came to help the cancer patient escape her harassers and return to her car -- weeping and trembling. There was no way she was going to get essential medical care that day.
After the police left, one of the protesters said to me, "I suppose since you think it's OK to kill a fetus you agree that it's OK if I kill you."
This is ugly language, but no more hate-filled than the rest of the words and deeds of those angry people who want to keep women from getting reproductive health care.
Why are we allowing such mobs to decide who gets medical care in Aurora, or anywhere else in America? Never mind that polls show Planned Parenthood is the most trusted provider of health care in America. The zealots surrounding the Planned Parenthood health center in Aurora have actually cowed the Aurora City Council into demanding a review of the city's permit-granting process. A spokeswoman from the mayor's office has said that a review of this kind has never been done before.
This is the kind of thing we can anticipate in and around the Aurora clinic. Far from abating, it will continue to escalate until something, somewhere, gives. Anyone who cares about this issue and has taken the time to participate in helping this clinic open would be wise to continue their support. We cannot afford to breathe a sigh of relief and turn our backs on the clinic now. The experience of Ms. Peretzky is evidence of that. I know that I will once again be at the City Council meeting tomorrow evening, and the following week as well, when I'm scheduled to comment. I will continue my vigil, because without eyes on this situation, anything can happen. If some type of overt intimidation or violence occurs, we will need witnesses. Since the clinic is in my neighborhood, I will make frequent visits to see just what is going on around the property.
We have not won this fight, only the opening battle. The war will continue unabated, and we must be vigilant in our efforts to keep this clinic open. Lives depend on it.