BY DAVE PARRO
UPDATE (Sept. 17): The clinic opening will be delayed until at least Thursday so both sides can make their arguments in court.
UPDATE: (Sept. 14): Planned Parenthood has sued the city of Aurora because city officials have indicated the clinic likely will not open on time because of the attorney review.
(Originally published Sept. 7)
For a couple weeks now, the Sept. 18 opening for the Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora has seemed in doubt. The response from anti-abortion activists was so loud that the City Council and Mayor Tom Weisner couldn't ignore it. On top of that, the alleged deception on the part of Planned Parenthood gave the city a legitimate reason to pause and review its every move.
Weisner said Thursday that he won't push to have the independent attorney review complete by the Sept. 17 deadline, a day before the clinic is supposed to open. "My intent is to get the facts," he said, before the city issues a final occupancy permit.
Even if it turns out that Planned Parenthood met all the disclosure requirements and the women's health clinic ends up opening, it's important that city officials feel confident in their approval process. If Planned Parenthood has to wait to open its doors for a few days or even a few weeks, that's the price they pay for coming into Aurora in disguise.
It appears that Planned Parenthood followed the public-disclosure requirements for state bond financing, but PP certainly wasn't honest with Aurora officials at November's Planning and Development Committee. Planned Parenthood says Gemini Office Development was listed in public records as a PP subsidiary, so the true nature of the facility could have been discovered by anyone who did some research. But they told the three aldermen at P&D that they didn't know who their tenant would be. Was there any other possibility if the connection was spelled out as PP claims?
Planned Parenthood chose to hide the true nature of its Gemini Office Development medical complex, so the organization shouldn't take any legal action when the city delays its opening. If PP/Chicago Area CEO Steve Trombley is confident that everything PP did was within the law, then he should welcome an exhaustive review.
In response to Weisner's comments, Trombley said, "We have no reason to believe that the city will not complete its review by the 18th." He should start preparing for that reality. Planned Parenthood's secrecy backfired; rather than protect clinic workers and future clients from violence (there hasn't been any), it only gave the anti-abortion camp more ammunition and the city a valid -- and possibly legal -- reason to shut the clinic down.
What shock and sadness there is to see in todays paper that there are actually 'religious leaders' from various religions, who actually advocate and encourage women to pray that the abortion mill will open on time!!
To believe in God is to believe in His 10 commandments, are all of you forgetting the one which states: 'Thous Shalt Not Kill"!
What a great message these religions are sending to our youth, that it is perfectly fine for a mother to kill her unborn baby because that is her choice! But, then we expect these same young people to respect eachother, stay away from gangs and their senseless crimes which include murder!
To encourage ones flock to pray for such an evil atrocity is actually encouraging prayer to the devil. It is an insult to the God who created us to use His name in the same context of advocating abortion....
He gave woman the honor of sharing with Him the most important miracle of life. What if His mother had selfishly decided that she did not want to be humiliated, and burdended with her unplanned pregnancy!!!
We are all given God given rights, that includes all life He created, from conception to natural death......
These are truly sad times for our community, for our world.....
patty. not every religion is based on the ten comandments. and last time i checked this country was founded on the right of freedom of religion.
To Anonymous:
I am fully aware that there are many different religions....I am still shocked that there are any religions that advocate the brutal murder of an innocent human being, where it should be the most safe, in the mothers womb.....
And, if you also check, our country was founded on the fact that every human being has the right to life!! What a terrible injustice it is for the most frail of us that their right to take their 1st breath has been so cruelly taken away from them....
If we allow a mother to kill her own baby, what or who is next????
How have we allowed our country to come to this?????
How have we come to allow a 'corner clinic' handout birth control to girls as young as 9 or 10, torture and murder their babies when their handouts fail, and all this under the name of healthcare!!!!!
Then we wave our flag and ask God to bless America~~does anyone truly believe we deserve His blessing when we allow such atrocities to continue???
While I agree that it was backhanded for PP to apply for a building permit under a business name that did not spell out its purpose, it's frustrating to see that the opening has been delayed. Denying the women of the Fox Valley of the services that PP offers is wrong - which is family planning. Only 10% of what PP does is abortions... I'll bet your precious Dubya does a LOT more than just 10% "wrong".
Quote: "And, if you also check, our country was founded on the fact that every human being has the right to life!!"
Patty, didn't we discuss this already? The founding document of THIS COUNTRY is the Constitution. After a Declaration of Independence was written, the colonies joined to form a Confederation of states (and evidently they didn't care much for the sacredness of life idea since most of them happily executed criminals, Indians, and homosexuals, as well as deprived people of other "unalienable rights") which was the legal entity from 1783 trhough 1787 I believe. So, if anything, the Declaration was the Confederacy founding document, not the United States founding document.
But it is all a moot argument. If our Founding Fathers really believe that Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness (whatever that means) were really unalienable rights, they would not write the Amendments that spell out specifically under what conditions the people can be legally deprived of life, liberty, and property.
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without the due process of the law.
Constitution is your actual founding legal document. Get over it.
You know what's really bad for Aurora? Gangs.
When was the last time a Planned Parenthood posse jumped in their hooptie & shot up the 'hood? Or a teen strung out on birth control pistol-whipped his elderly neighbor for a few bucks? If you don't like Planned Parenthood opening in Aurora, don't go there. Intimidating the poor & underprivileged, or for that matter any woman of any race, color or creed, from taking advantage of services offered to them, services that are entirely legal under our Constitution, is what is bad for Aurora.
Why not redirect all this time, energy & money to people who are here now that need our help?
I don't think it says anywhere in the bible that it is OK to harass or shame those in need.
Those without sin may cast the first stone.
Any girl who is pregnant and you feel like you have no one to turn to please contact one of the following:
OptionLine
Option Line consultants refer each caller to a pregnancy resource center in her area for answers to questions about abortion, pregnancy tests, STD's, adoption, parenting, medical referrals, housing, and many other issues. The toll-free number is available to callers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Callers from across the country can reach a trained, caring person and then be connected to a pregnancy resource center near them for one-on-one help. Option Line is a call center located in Columbus, Ohio, formed as a joint venture between Care Net and Heartbeat International.
1-800-395-HELP or E-Mail
Birthright
Birthright has a network of almost a thousand pregnancy help centers throughout the United States, These centers offer pregnancy testing, counseling, and resources, including medical, financial, and personal assistance. The Birthright philosophy is that a woman coming in for help does not represent a "statistic", or an "issue,", but is rather a human being looking for help and support in a time of need. In addition to pregnancy help services, Birthright also provides links to doctors and others in the local community who can help a woman after the birth of her child.
1-800-550-4900
National Life Center
National Life Center's 24-hour hotline directs you to the closest Crisis Pregnancy Center in the United States and Canada.
1-800-848-LOVE
Bethany Christian Services
Bethany Christian Services is one of the nation's leading providers of adoption and crisis pregnancy support information. They operate a national hotline which is active from 8 AM to 12 PM, 7 days a week. This hotline routes callers to one of 56 local offices which can then provide local and regional information.
On-going education and support for parents are offered through our adoption support services. Bethany acknowledges that adoption is a life-long process and that adoptive families sometimes have unique issues and concerns. Bethany's adoption pre-screening and placement program is one of the most recommended in the country, and they have placed more than 11,000 children in adoptive homes. In addition, Bethany provides good community-based follow-up, both for women who choose adoption or who raise their child themselves.
1-800-BETHANY
The Nurturing Network
Some 32,000 volunteer member resources nationwide provide individually tailored practical support to college and working women with unplanned pregnancies including counseling, medical, residential, educational, employment and financial resources.
Several Sources Foundation
Several Sources Foundation provides a 24-hour crisis pregnancy help line which can connect any caller to their local pregnancy help resources, including Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and others. Their database of pregnancy help resources is one of the most complete in the nation. See for yourself at their great website!
1-800-662-2678
Gabriel Project
From the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Dr. Marcella Colbert directs this Catholic ministry that evangelizes and saves lives, using the local parish as the haven in which women who are pregnant and in need can hear an echo of Gabriel’s message, “You have nothing to fear!”
And please read the following:
The legalization of abortion doesn't just affect the women who have abortions and the fetuses aborted. Abortion affects every one of us, alive with the right to life. In the late 1960s and early 1970s abortion rights supporters promised that through the legalization of abortion society would be improved. Fewer teenagers would become pregnant. Child abuse would drop. Children would only live in homes that could support them. Children would live in more loving homes and crime rates would drop. Yet, either because of or coincidentally with Roe vs. Wade, history has shown the opposite. Abortion has opened up a "back way out:" an excuse to have unsafe sex, and an excuse for violent murder. Our society, and the children who have grown up in the abortion-filled world, have been negatively affected.
Abortion is not a solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IKmx6wsYk
This is the Fox News special regarding Planned Parenthood in Aurora. It's actually quite good.
Quote: "I am fully aware that there are many different religions....I am still shocked that there are any religions that advocate the brutal murder of an innocent human being, where it should be the most safe, in the mothers womb....."
Your own God advocated for murder of innocent children Patty, as well as innocent men (and women) in general. So, please stop judging other religions - that is a can of worms you probably better off keeping closed.
I haven't seen where anyone has harrassed, intimidated or shamed any woman throughout this entire protest regarding Planned Parenthood's attempt to open in Aurora. We have been very peaceful, civil people and totally NON-VIOLENT! Please don't compare us to the extremists from the past who have done such things. We aren't them ~ thankyou!!
In yesterday's Beacon there were at least two full-page ads placed by "Families Against Planned Parenthood". The ads said that Planned Parenthood is "anti-child" because PP stated that "children are noisy, smelly, and expensive". That's not "anti-child", it's "pro-truth". Children ARE noisy, smelly, and expensive--I should know, because I've raised some! They are also a tremendous source of joy and fulfillment, and it would be nice if PP chose to mention that fact; but calling PP "anti-child" because of this truthful statement is just plain ridiculous.
And full-page ads aren't cheap. How much baby food, clothes, and diapers could these "pro-lifers" have bought for needy families with that money??
No, full page ads arent cheap, but they are worth every penny if it will save at least one baby from being brutally tortured, murdered and thrown into the garbage.....
There are many pro life ogranizations which offer services to mothers and their unborn babies, some were posted on this blog yesterday.....
Pro life organizations do not acquire their money from the tax payers as does, planned parenthood.....The money used to fight
for babies lives comes from the heart and generosity of those who believe that abortion is murder, and are willing to sacrifice in order to try and end this atrocity......
How ironic that taxpayers money will be used toward planned parenthoods legal fight with the city of Aurora.....
This organization must realize by now that there are many who live and work in Aurora who do not want this building in their nighborhood, but do they care?
No, just as they truly dont care that they may be handing out birth control to a 9 or 10 yr. old, and wont blink an eye when that same child comes back terrified when she is pregnant, because they will 'take care of that' also....All this in the name of woman's right???? Since when have children, adolescents and teens become woman????
Funny how everyone exerts all this time and effort into protesting the killing of innocent babies, but yet the killing of thousands of human beings in Iraq have been put on the back burner. What about those innocent lives AND no to mention the millions (if not billions) of tax payer dollars spent on that cause? What a funny nation we live in when we focus on the trivial matter of establishing a medical facility for women of low income who cannot always afford the means of having a child over the ongoing Iraq war which has left thousands dead if not homeless. For those invoking their religious opinions about God's will, I hope you think about how well your religious morals have served you in voting for those Republicans who have done so well in representing your religious opinions in a war waged against Muslims who also believe in God. For those protesting the opening of this clinic I ask one vital question: are you waiting to adopt children from this country?
This blog pertains to an abortion mill in the community of Aurora, that is the precise reason we are focusing on that subject.
War is horrific, any senseless murder is horrific, but to murder an unborn, innocent human being who has harmed no one and never had a chance to live his or her own life, is the most horrific crime that could ever be committed~~and it is a murder allowed by our country with the permission of a tiny babies own mother.
Anyone with a moral conscious would not want this going on in their own community.
Abortion is a crime which is far worse than the holocaust, and puts humans on a scale lower than an animal since most of them would not intentionally murder their own baby.
Some are convinced that we have advanced as a society by giving a female the right to have her unborn babies life cruelly put to an end, but honestly what it does is totally degrade any female who allows these so called Drs to invade their bodies, torture the life they are carrying, all in the name of womens right! The few people I know who had abortions when they were younger lost all self respect for themselves, and felt that they didnt deserve to be respected by others.
We took a thousand steps backwards when Roe V Wade became a law by lowering a womans self esteem and respect for herself when we allowed her to become a murderer of the very person she should love the most on this earth.
Anonymous,
So, what do you think about voting for Republicans who plan continue this "horrific" war? I am sure you plan to vote against them, right?
Quote "Some are convinced that we have advanced as a society by giving a female the right to have her unborn babies life cruelly put to an end, but honestly what it does is totally degrade any female who allows these so called Drs to invade their bodies"
Actually, I don't know of any Drs who kidnap women on the steet to bring them back to the clinics and invade their bodies. All women whose bodies were "invaded" by Drs probably didn't mind paying their hard-earned $ for this right.
Who actually invade the bodies are unwanted fetuses. At least that is how I felt about my pregnancy. I felt invaded, used, tortured, abused. I was close to ecstatic after my abortion.
Quote: "Abortion is a crime which is far worse than the holocaust"
I have seen several Holocaust survirors and their children who were totally outraged by this comparison.
Quote: "and puts humans on a scale lower than an animal since most of them would not intentionally murder their own baby"
And how exactly do you know that? Have you ever interviewed a pregnant non-human female to see who she thinks about aborting?
By the way, I believe that dog mothers kill and eat puppies that have birth abnormalities. Should human mothers kill follow their example? If the dogs do it, it must be good and natural, correct?
Quote: "The few people I know who had abortions when they were younger lost all self respect for themselves, and felt that they didnt deserve to be respected by others."
Let me guess, they all now happened to be Christian?
Well, I can speak from my own experience. I had an abortion, I am very happy that I made the decision to abort, and my self respect didn't change much in either direction since my abortion.
My name is Elena, I am 28, I had my abortion in 2005. Nice to meet you.
So, Anonymous, now YOU know at least one woman who is not sorry, and please don't forget to mention me, too, next time you bring up abortion and "sorry feelings." Ok? Thanks!
Quote: "We took a thousand steps backwards when Roe V Wade became a law by lowering a womans self esteem and respect for herself when we allowed her to become a murderer of the very person she should love the most on this earth."
I don't know about "a thousand steps back..." Seems like women are now more welcome into previously "male" occupations, into top executive positions, their pay is getting almost equal to the male's salaries, etc. Maybe for you that is backwards, but for me personally - that's forward!
Quote: "How ironic that taxpayers money will be used toward planned parenthoods legal fight with the city of Aurora....."
Think about this, how ironic that the same people who want to prevent PP from operating a legal business offering much needed services, are some of the same people who will turn their backs on these mothers after they have unplanned or unwanted children.
I have had conversations with some of these 'pro-life' supporters who have said that they fully support the death penalty (it must be born...but it's ok to kill it when it does something wrong). These same people also have said they don't want to have their tax dollars spent to help troubled teens.
Nice christian attitude, nice attitude in general. Let's take away a womans right to chose and then let's turn our backs after she gives in to our narrow, self-rightous 'moral' views.
How nice of you Scott that you are rallying for a womens right to be a murderer!
Pro choice people need to call it what it is, Not a women's choice, but a women's right to allow her unborn baby to be tortured, murdered and tossed into the garbage.
And, if planned parenthood has so many needed services why didnt they build in a neighborhood where these services are so desperately needed?
Seems obvious that they chose to build in a middle to upper class area to increase their revenue, and tempt the teens in from Waubonsie to start using their birth control, then lo and behold, they will have many teens waiting to abort their babies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18IKmx6wsYk
This report done by Fox news exposes them for what they truly are.
Quote: "Think about this, how ironic that the same people who want to prevent PP from operating a legal business offering much needed services, are some of the same people who will turn their backs on these mothers after they have unplanned or unwanted children"
I agree with that. Usually I do not see buses full of Christians pulling up in front of the state senate to rally for universal coverage for pre-and post-delivery medical services, longer maternity leave (in some other countries, paid maternity leave is about 2 years), better schedule accommodation and higher pay / better work benefits for single mothers, education savings assistance, special programs for parents with "special needs" children, etc.
The Christians’ attention span does not seem to expand beyond the "saving the babies" concept. Those babies that are actually being born could live in crack houses or for all they seem to care. As long as they were born, no matter where, how or from into what kind of environment, we are all Ok and God is smiling kindly upon his tireless forced-gestation warriors. Who has time and resources to nourish someone else's born children, anyway? Especially if they are "special needs" children, for example. Too much trouble, and it cuts too deep into the state budget (and our own pockets), too... Caring about unborn is sooo much cheaper and more rewarding...
Anonymous, you always say "torture." I am curious as to what type of torture is used on the fetuses prior to abortion?
Not surprising that pro choice people will intentionally ignore the report done by Fox. Wonder why?
Saline solution burns, getting an instrument stuck into the back of ones skull speaks for itself, suctioning and ripping apart a baby also speaks for itself. Yes, babies are tortured--babies who never intentionally harmed anyone, they just wanted a chance at life.
And this is what pro choice people call a right and choice!
Hey anonymous, we all know how reputable the Fox network is to the viewing public.
Yes, as a woman, it MY choice to determine and ensure that I can give my child the best opportunity to live out a life. I'm glad that adoption agencies are established to give a woman the alternative choice, but ultimately, it is the woman's right to choose what is done with her body. Not the state, not some religious zealot, and certainly not you.
Anonymous,
I would like to admit that I did not view that Fox link, mainly because I am on dial-up right now, and trying to view videos on a dial-up is not a fast and easy process!
I would like to know what it says, however. Of course, being produced by FOX I can sort of guess what it may say. Nevertheless, if you have a moment to make a transcript for me, I would enjoy reading it.
Quote: "Saline solution burns, getting an instrument stuck into the back of ones skull speaks for itself, suctioning and ripping apart a baby also speaks for itself. Yes, babies are tortured."
Up to some point, and the last I heard that point was 14-15 weeks, fetuses has no nervous system sophisticated enough to process sensory signals. So, you cannot really torture someone who does not have a perception of pain. But alright... Please propose a more humane method of aborting the fetus (let's say, from 8 to 12 weeks), and I will actually be glad to support it.
Dear Anonymous, I am hoping you would not forget to answer the question I asked a couple of days ago. In case you did forget, here it is again:
"So, what do you think about voting for Republicans who plan continue this "horrific" war? I am sure you plan to vote against them, right?"
Thank you! I am most curious to learn your answer.
I have something really simple to say. If people really want this place to go away, all they have to do is, TEACH there daughters, cousins, neices and grandchildren to keep their damn legs closed and if they cant keep them closed, use protection. Get out of denial and give your children what they need to avoid all of this bull. If they needed a drink you would get it. well if they need birth control, get it. I have 2 girls and you best beleive as soon as i get an idea that they are curious, their going on the pill and i dont care if thats at age 12. Whenever I feel they need it because i am the adult and i have to be on my job at all times. If there is even an inkling that your child is even thinking of sex, put them on birth control. even if they deny it. and for the boys, teach them the importance of wrapping it up. show them the most disgusting pictures you can of std's and explain this will be them. I have been a mother since i was 14 years old and i tell you this, I wish someone had listened to me and noticed how fast i was getting. Its all about paying attention to your kids. When their babies, we watch them like a hawk and as they get older we seem to stop watching as much even though this is the time to really be watching and observing.
It's not the abortion clinics fault that we as parents and people have failed to educate our children and ourselves. If they didn't have us, there would be no need for the clinic. Think about it and pass it on.