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Home Action News Special Issue 2008 Ground Zero (5 of 7)

Special Issue 2008 ACTION NEWS | VOL. XXVII No. 1

This Special Report on the Pro-Life Action League's battle in Aurora, Illinois is divided into seven parts.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

The League at Ground Zero, cont.

Father Pavone

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, one of many pro-life leaders to visit Ground Zero, prays at the Vigil, Sept. 25 [Photo by EJS]

The Vigil Goes into Overtime

As the 41st day of the Vigil began the next morning at 8 a.m., hundreds of pro-lifers came out to pray and celebrate Planned Parenthood's doors remaining shut—only they weren't quite shut after all. Though they did not open for business, Planned Parenthood staffers appeared at the site, in blatant violation of the law.

I soon learned the staffers were there to set up for a "Meet and Greet" event that evening. While attorney Vince Tessitore tried unsuccessfully to get the city to enforce the law, I organized a last-minute picket of the event. For the first time the pro-life group made use of the roadway immediately across from Planned Parenthood's entrance—a site that would soon become the center of intense controversy.

Aurora Celebrates "Amazing Grace"

The morning of September 20, a group of Fox Valley stalwarts gathered at my home on the west side of Aurora to drive into Chicago for the hearing in Planned Parenthood v. Aurora. We crammed into my fifteen-passenger van and drove the 40 miles to the Dirksen Federal Building singing hymns of praise—in harmony. There we met dozens of other Fox Valley pro-lifers and I quickly arranged for my next-door neighbor, Ann DeCleene, to send shifts up to the courtroom so that everyone would have a chance to attend the hearing; those who remained behind outside the building kept a picket going with a supply of yard signs I'd brought from Aurora. Up on the 23rd floor the courtroom was crammed with press, as well as a handful of Planned Parenthood staffers. On seeing pro-lifer Sylvia Keppel with her infant daughter Anne, one of them sniffed, "Oh look, they brought babies."

The hearing got underway. Planned Parenthood's attorneys argued that the only reason they were being investigated was because of some citizens' opposition to abortion, a "constitutionally protected service". Attorneys for the City argued that even by their own admission Planned Parenthood had tried to keep their identity secret, and their investigation ought to be allowed to continue. They produced the minutes of a November 16, 2006 meeting in which representatives of Planned Parenthood's Gemini subsidiary pretended not to know who their tenant would be, which the judge called "obfuscation at best."

After over an hour of testimony from both sides, Judge Norgle refused to order Aurora to issue Planned Parenthood an occupancy permit, pending the results of the investigation. Planned Parenthood would remained closed at least for the rest of the week!

Eric Scheidler addresses the press at Federal Court

Eric Scheidler talks to the press after the Sept. 20 federal court hearing that kept Planned Parenthood shut [Photo by Sean Grismer]

God's providence was on display yet again on this great day, not only because the abortuary would remain shuttered, but also because we had planned weeks in advance to hold a thank-you dinner for our Vigil participants that very evening. Volunteer Michelle Dellinger had been making the arrangements for the dinner with the theme of "Amazing Grace".

I had invited 40 Days for Life director David Bereit to speak at the dinner. David had been prepared to console the volunteers in the event Planned Parenthood had opened, but instead he was able to help us celebrate our tremendous victory with a talk on the theme, "Now is the time".

Pro-Lifers Drop Bombshell at City Council

At 11:00 p.m. September 24, I received a call from attorney Peter Breen, director the pregnancy resource network Woman's Choice Services. Peter and his wife Margie had captained one of the early days of the Vigil, and Peter had taken a keen interest in Planned Parenthood's zoning violations. He had just discovered a provision in the Aurora Zoning Ordinance (AZO) that required a "special use permit" for any "non-profit health related service"—a permit that required public notice, public hearings, and a super-majority vote in the City Council!

The timing of this discovery was—again—providential. The very next day, we were set to make our third trip to the City Council, this time to demand that the results of the City's investigation be made public and discussed in the Council, and any action taken be voted on. There was sure to be major media coverage when we dropped the bombshell that Planned Parenthood had failed to obtain this required permit.

The scene outside City Hall that evening was like a circus. Planned Parenthood's Steve Trombley was there, looking miserable after his big loss in federal court the week before. His throng of pink-shirted supporters shrieked whenever a passing car responded to their Honk for Choice signs, while our pro-life group split into two battalions—one picketing for life, the other offering prayers for the meeting. I did interviews with several TV stations on the special use permit issue.

The City Council voted, once again, to limit the time for public comment, this time to two hours. Fortunately, I had signed up early and was one of the first to speak. I explained the special use permit requirement and then called for nothing less than the demolition of Planned Parenthood's new building. Many other pro-lifers asked why Planned Parenthood gets to break the law, and even one abortion supporter railed against Steve Trombley in her remarks.

Reaching Planned Parenthood's Neighbors

Our campaign against Planned Parenthood was further bolstered the next morning when we mailed over 100,000 postcards to every address in Aurora and nearby Naperville about "Your new neighbor, Planned Parenthood". The postcards highlighted Planned Parenthood's fraud, abortion record, sheltering of child predators and other facts. Interestingly, the League received more hate mail from this purely factual postcard than on any other project we've ever done—a sure sign that our message was hitting home.

Some local residents were further rankled when Missionaries to the Preborn, a pro-life activist group from Milwaukee headed by Pastor Matt Trewhella, descended on a major intersection near the Planned Parenthood site with a Face the Truth Tour on September 27.

I had taken the day off to celebrate my birthday with my family, so I wasn't there for the Missionaries' Tour. When a local reporter asked me about it, I commented that any city that plays host to the nation's largest abortion facility can expect pro-life activists to come from all over to protest. The past year has validated my remark, with visitors from Rock for Life, Stand True, Priests for Life and Students for Life of America coming to the site to pray and protest during the past year.

Mayor Weisner betrays the people of Aurora

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner announces on Oct. 1 that Planned Parenthood may open—a profound betrayal [Photo by Jeff Eschbach]

Mayor Weisner's Stunning Betrayal

On the morning of October 1, I drove to the Kane County Court in Batavia to file a libel suit against Planned Parenthood and Steve Trombley for their lies about us back in September. I was parking my car when a reporter from the Daily Herald called to get my reaction to the news that Mayor Tom Weisner would be holding a press conference that afternoon to announce the results of the City's investigation into wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood.

As I filled out the necessary paperwork to get the libel case filed, my phone began to ring off the hook with calls from reporters. One of them told me that Planned Parenthood officials had told her that they had been informed by the City they would be allowed to open soon. This was corroborated by word from Vigil stalwart Bruce Sutcliffe that activity by staffers at the site had been on the rise over the weekend. Also troubling was the news that Weisner's press conference would be closed to the public. I smelled a rat.

At the closed press conference that afternoon, Weisner announced that "three independent investigators" had cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing, and that the city would be issuing their occupancy permit immediately. Planned Parenthood would open the next day.

Mayor Weisner had profoundly betrayed the trust of the people of Aurora. We had all been led to believe that the results of the independent investigation would be made public, and action deliberated in the City Council. Yet even Alderman Rick Lawrence, who had been our pro-life champion on the Council, had to wait outside the mayor's office for hours to get a copy of the report, which he received only minutes before the press conference.

[Go to Part 6]
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