Anti-choice activists make me sick. They are the ones destroying this country. I betcha if this was a maternity ward or CPC -- both of which dblatantly disrespects women and blatantly profits off the exploitation of women, they wouldn't be protesting.

Maybe it's just Monday-morning drag, but I'm confused by this post. First paragraph says that religious leaders were speaking in support of PP, but the quoted portions have religious leaders "band[ing] together to work against the clinic." The article linked to requires a subscription to the Chicago Tribune. Are there two groups of religious leaders here, some pro-choice and some anti?

Sorry if the wording was confusing--the quote is about the anti-choicers who are out in numbers after some pro-choice religious leaders spoke in support of PP. So yeah, there are two groups.

I live in this area and was out at an anti-war demonstration over the weekend. It is really sad that hundreds of people are putting so much time into protesting a clinic, when lives are being ruined and lost in Iraq by the thousands. I guess some lives are more valuable than others in the eyes of the anti-choice front?

I wrote something about how all of this began on my blog. It started way back in August.

And renithered, anti-choice people DO NOT value even one life. They don't care if women are murdered by their policies.

I was at the Aurora town council meeting last week, and the anti-choice people made me so angry. My fiance posted about it here. Some of the anti-choicers laughed when a woman said she hadn't been able to afford a gynecological exam in about a decade. I don't even know what kind of person it takes to do that...

I was at the clinic Saturday morning by 9am and I was taken aback by how many protestors there were. I had expected some, but they came in droves for the morning. All white, I noted, too, which is interesting as I had learned about Aurora's demographics at a prior meeting of Planned Parenthood, and the Hispanic population is growing incredibly, and that's part of the reason this location was chosen to open this clinic. Lots of children protestors, too, which creeps me right the fuck out. Carrying "stop abortion now" signs and wearing "pro-life" t-shirts, little blond children walked up and down the block.

I really hope the clinic gets to open tomorrow as scheduled. It's ridiculous the hurdles and bullshit they are being put through to open this clinic. And I must add, the clinic is FABULOUS. It's basically everything you could hope for in a women's and reproductive health clinic. It's warm, friendly, and inviting, as are the staff. Abortion services are through one door and family planning services are through another. The two sides are completely separate and the waiting rooms are very comfortable and roomy. One good thing about the suburbs: room to build and grow!

String Bean Jen, these people opposed to the clinic aren't just there to protest. They are there to try to committ a terrorist attack on the Aurora Planned Parenthood clinic.

Llamachameleon - I just read your fiance's account of the city council meeting. It sounds utterly infuriating. Law and order, huh? Huh.

Jovan1984, I would not make such a sweeping generalization without concrete evidence. That's what anti-choicers do about our movement. I never felt unsafe at the clinic despite the huge numbers of protestors lining the block, and they didn't even block the driveway. The clinic is built bulletproof strong, and the security guards fully support Planned Parenthood and are friendly to boot.

Did you read how they've got a special 'men's protest' planned? Is there any way they could make it more obvious that what they're really upset about is that their property rights, as owners of wowen and their reproductive equipment, are being violated?

Seems like this would be a great time to break out the knitted uteri (see the page my name links to), and hand them out to the poor dears.

All I have to say is: separation of church and state. I can deal with the anti-choicers who use legal terms/laws/whatever to disagree with abortion (although I don't necessarily agree) but people who are so blind-sided by religion that they want to convert everyone to their religious views in a country such as diverse as the US- makes me want to scream! I believe in God but realize the next person may not, or may have a different religion, so I respect that and don't use my own views to influence them. Why can't everyone just accept this? (now that's the million dollar question)

Yeah, my Muslim doctor told me that her faith allows abortion for the first 40 days. I wonder if Muslims could make the argument that banning abortion during that time period violates their religious freedom?

(It should also be noted that my doc feels that medical ethics trump her religious beliefs, so she refers patients who want abortions, at any stage of pregnancy, to the nearest place that provides them.)

Jessica, thanks for the clarification :)

OMG i LOVE the knitted uterus! Will have to whip up something similar via crochet.

lamachameleon: I was at the city council meeting too, the mom shamelessly using my baby daughter's cuteness by putting her in a PP t-shirt.

We never got inside, the line was so long and we were so far back. I thought it was interesting too how diverse the group FOR PP was, and how the anti-choice group was almost all white. My family lives very close to the clinic and the protests are almost overwhelming. I think it comes down to the anti-choice movement being so well organized- when I couldn't get in to speak, I wrote a letter to the council members via e-mail (and got a nice response back, too). I had trouble finding their e-mail addresses... until I went to an anti-choice site and used their link to e-mail every one of them. Ha. Speaking of- ran into my sister in law's mother in law (got that?) at the protest. She lives about 30 miles outside of Aurora, and is an anti-choice activist. I was nice as family should be, but my partner put it best: what the hell is she doing here, she doesn't even live here. Most of the anti-choice people I was around / spoke briefly with weren't from Aurora.

One of the biggest reasons there aren't as many PP supporters as their should be is lack of information. Honestly, I discovered the issue at Daily Kos and I LIVE THERE. I saw the protesters but thought it was just par for the course, I never knew there was political action being taken. The women of Aurora who will use this location don't live or work in the immediate vicinity (it's in the suburbs, not downtown Aurora) and probably are oblivious to the onslaught of anti-choice protesters. Also, as a working person, getting to the city council meeting before it was filled was almost impossible- the anti-choice people must have been there by 3pm to fill it so quickly and once the line started moving, I had to strong arm my way through to keep my spot in line. Crazy.

@Taina: I agree whole heartedly- the problem in Aurora is that the City Council is trying to claim they had no knowledge the facility was a PP, making the permits fraudulent. I'm not sure how to make a link, but here's a tiny url to the Planned Parenthood Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/365kn5

So has anyone heard whether it has opened on time today? I live about half an hour from Aurora and heard about this several weeks ago, but wasn't hearing anything on what I could do to help out the situation. Keep me updated!

Chell_bell, I'm pretty sure tomorrow is the day it's supposed to open, on a Tuesday, which seems a little weird to me.

Aw, fuck. Yeah, it was supposed to open tomorrow (Tuesday, the 18th) and it looks like a federal judge has put a hold on the opening of the clinic in Aurora pending a Thursday hearing.

What bullshit. This is all about politics and religious intrusion and has fuck all to do with the law. You bastards. There were loads of appointments booked this week. YOU tell the citizens of Aurora that you want to deny them affordable, accessible reproductive health care and family planning services.

An idea for how to mess with anti-choice protesters:

If you have to go for an abortion, bring along a man. It doesn't matter what kind, as long as he's "unmistakeably" masculine in appearance--he could be handsome or ugly--though a bit of a pot belly would help.

When the protesters start up, have him react in a defensive, emotional manner. Then, enjoy the silence. The sweet, sweet silence of stunned, sexist, overly religious idiots.

I would offer myself as a prospective decoy, as I am noticeably overweight, tall, with broader-than-average shoulders, and currently sport a neckbeard.

(Cheers to Randy Milholland, writer of the Something Positive webcomic, who as far as I'm aware came up with the idea. If you plan to go read through the comic's archives because of this, please be aware that the first strip could be offensive to...well, pretty much everyone.)

I should note:

"I would offer myself as a prospective decoy, as I am noticeably overweight, tall, with broader-than-average shoulders, and currently sport a neckbeard..."

...but I'm in Canada.

Shadowen, you forgot the link to that episode! ;) Here it is:

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09232002.shtml

Oh my stars and garters I can barely see straight. E-mailed my Aldermans to tell them I was disappointed to hear of the delay in the opening of the PP. Hoped they were truly going over legal things, hoped their minds weren't already made up. Got this back:

Melissa-
If Planned Parenthood would have been upfront with the city, we could have done a much better job of helping them locate. As it is, based on their admitted deceit, they will be located to the major grocery and video store in the area. We will have to parade our children past protests and face the fact daily that lives are being aborted in that building. I do not pass judgement on supporters of PP, but I will tell you they are a deceitful organization and I am angry that they located where they did without ever consulting anyone in our government.
Thank you,
Alderman Chris Beykirch
Ward 8

Well gee, Alderman, thanks for not passing JUDGEMENT on me you %$&*(&#*@Q&*#$&$. So. Annoyed.

It is so infuriating to see this situation developing, and realizing what huge liars the anti-choicer/forced-pregnancy crowd is. They keep talking and talking about how PP "deceived" the city of Aurora, and it is just all such crap. Gemini is a subsidiary of PP. Publicly filed documents reveal that relationship. Not to mention the fact that it not at all unusual for a facility to hire out for development services.

To quote from the article cited:

"As a factual matter, the complaint notes that Planned Parenthood had publicly announced its intention to operate a medical facility providing a full range of reproductive services — including birth control, family planning counseling and abortions — in a front-page Chicago Tribune story in late July, well before the city issued the temporary occupancy permit on August 16."

There is a mountain of other evidence that PP never hid its intentions from the Aurora City Council. For them to claim otherwise now is either an big, fat lie, or proof of their own lack of due diligence.

I am in Naperville, about a 10 to 15 minute drive from the clinic, and I plan on going to their openhouse tonight with my two daughters to show my support.

Chiasatan, I'll see you there, then! I've been sending my e-mail conversation with the Alderman to Steve Trombley over at Planned Parenthood just to keep him informed. The conversation actually got WORSE with this next e-mail. Now it's a racial issue:
Melissa-

Since you decided to make your e-mail widely public, I did too. I gave you a perspective on the issue that I felt you should know. I think PP and its leaders are widely deceptive to the governments of communities all around the U.S. I do not like the fact they took our ability to plan out of our hands with their deception. I can't imagine that even a pro-PP person could see that the long term effects of their location are not good for my neighborhood.

You touched on my morality. I have never been a Pro-Life activist, but I am Pro-Life. I do believe life begins at conception. Why else would people put ultrasounds on their refrigerator? Even though I am elected, I come to the office with life experiences that lead me one way or another. I am Pro-Life. I will also abide by the law of the land as I am sworn to do. I will not go along with it though until the law says I must. I will also never think positively about a "medical practice" that will perform abortions on minors without parental consent regardless of their extremist ideals of why they should be allowed to.

I hope you understand I am entitled to an opinion as much as you.

Yes, sir, your opinion is "not in my neighborhood, which is the predominantly white. But of course, you would have "planned the location" better by putting it on the West side, in the other school district side, where those "unfavorable" types- low income, black and hispanic people- wouldn't taint the "neighborhood." oh, and won't somebody PLEASE think of the CHILDREN! Oh, and yeah, all those people who have those unplanned pregnancies, they're displaying those ultrasounds on the refrigerator, right? Oh, wait, forgot we're not talking about the same kind of people. Hell, a lot of those people can't AFFORD ultrasounds.

Send Mr. Beykirch over to the thread on fetus lipstick if he wants a dose of REAL deceit. :rolls eyes:

"Durrrr, why else would people put ultrasounds on their fridges?!" Maybe because they're excited about the baby they'll have ONCE IT'S FINISHED GESTATING?!
Jesus.

I thought of an even better way to mess with pro-life protestors. Buy one of those fake pregnancy bump pillow thingys. Plaster a wide grin on your face and march proudly into a PP while the protesters are outside. Squeal with delight when they react with horror. Muahahaha!

Chiasatan and lilianna28 - I'll be there too.

I've been trying to write a letter to the editor for a week now, and they keep ending up crumpled and in the garbage can. I'm so I angry I can't form a coherent sentence.

feministing.com represent! :)

feministing.com represent! :)

llama, I hear you. I have my response to that e-mail above in my draft box, trying to simmer my anger. It IS hard, though, to explain why it needed to be so convoluted with the naming without sounding apologist. BUT the truth of the matter is simple- the City Council was either too lazy or too stupid to follow up on the building permits, which begs the question- what else do they ignore? It can be about THAT instead of the ignorant Anti-Choice movement.

I've been trying to respond to the people who say that Aurora doesn't need a Planned Parenthood. There were a lot of people at the town council meeting claiming that there are plenty of medical facilities in Aurora. They seem to be in denial about how many people in the Aurora area are poor or uninsured. Sure, I could go to Rush-Copley or Mercy Center, but then I wouldn't be able to pay my electric bill or eat for a week.

Wow! You ladies go! Keep at it my Aurora-ish fellow Feministers, liliana and llama!

Dang it, wish I hadn't skipped reading this yesterday, i so would have been there!

Anyways, PLEASE HELP ON THIS POLL FOR THE AURORA CLINIC! Here's the site:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/index.html

It's the Naperville Sun's home page, so if my link doesn't work, just google it. Go the bottom right hand section and you'll see the poll. We are currently losing by 37%, so please just take 30 seconds to turn it around! Thanks!

Thanks, Chell. That was sent around via a NOW mailing list yesterday too so hopefully it got a few more clicks. Click away, people! I want to be able to support the clinic in any way possible.

Liliana, you might get a kick out of this. Your emails from your alderman have been quoted in the PP court filings! I found them posted on crazy-ass Jill Stanek's website. If you don't want to have to sift through the garbage to get there, here the address for PP's motion:

http://www.jillstanek.com/Plaintiff%27s_Rep-20070919-1643.pdf

Your emails from the alderman show up on p. 10 of the pleading.

Heh! How interesting, Chiasatan. I've been googling for news as I think the federal court meeting was at 10am this morning. I'm anxious to know what the verdict is!

I hate to give her any credit, because she is kind of a lunatic, but Stanek's website keeps pretty current on the Aurora facility.

I do wonder if Norgle will actually rule today. He (or rather his clerk) has had plenty of time to review the issue, but I wonder if he'll put off a ruling like he put off the hearing.

I'm heading to lunch shortly and I think I'll walk past the Dirksen building to see if I can 'find out anything'. (Yeah right! I can't imagine anyone hanging outside that massive federal building, but you never know with anti-choice protestors.)

Norgle denied the injunction motion. Link to the Aurora PP liveblog post here:

http://ppaurora.blogspot.com/2007/09/live-blogging-from-federal-court-in.html

I'm really disappointed.

On the other hand, PP has leave to refile, and the judge did indicate that although he doesn't currently see enough evidence to constitute discrimination, that the evidence could very well present itself.

Also, the Aurora city attorney stated that the review of the permitting process will be completed in seven days. It will be interesting to see the results.

Wow, thanks for that blog link, Chiasatan. I didn't know that existed. I find it hard to understand legalese, and I'm only slightly better informed now after reading that entire live blogging session from PP.

So what is next? PP have to gather evidence to show that they are being discriminated against? Aren't we getting further and further away from the case in the first place? I understand the issue to be that anti's said that because they were operating under a temporary permit under the name of Gemini LLC, rather than PP, they believe PP was being deceitful. So isn't the court's position to determine if PP were being deceitful or if they were not?

I just think of all the patients they had booked at the fabulous Aurora clinic and now they don't know when to reschedule their appointments to. It's horrible.

I walked over to the Dirksen building around 12:30pm and there was no one around save for a press conference set up for an immigrant rights decision. But I looped back around to 1:15 and all the antis (including Eric Scheidler I believe) were milling around outside. It looked like they'd just come out of court as they were just talking with one another and clutching on to their yellow signs. Ugh.