Straight out of the anti-choice protesters are bat-shit insane files, approximately 1,200 protesters convened outside of a soon to be opened Planned Parenthood clinic in Aurora, Illinois this Saturday. The clinic will perform abortions and is scheduled to open on September 18th. The anti-choice zealots are determined to prevent it from opening.
Police estimated that 1,200 people peacefully picketed near New York Street and Oakhurst Drive — with the large majority of them being anti-abortion advocates carrying signs, praying the rosary or chanting slogans.
They heavily outnumbered the 20 or so pro-choice advocates, although each side promised that every person in attendance was standing in for dozens — or hundreds — of others who wanted to be there.
. . .
The protest was a well-publicized effort to bring more attention to the clinic, which is scheduled to open Sept. 18. Planned Parenthood says the facility will be largest in the country and should fill a need for women’s health-care facilities in the suburbs.
Since the announcement of the clinic — which will offer not only abortions but also educational sessions for parents, teens and community groups — the Pro-Life Action League has held a 24-hour prayer vigil outside the clinic. Scheidler said the prayers are aimed at closing the clinic.
“Planned Parenthood should be terrified,” he said. “We’re going to destroy their building peacefully but aggressively.”
But the threats and intimidation get a lot worse.
Protesters have filed a federal lawsuit against police officers who enforced restrictions. I certainly do not support police harassment of peaceful protesters, but there are laws and this is a huge crowd. I can only hope that the police will be so diligent in enforcing restrictions once the clinic is actually open, and there are patients to intimidate.
They are also apparently requesting permits to protest outside the homes of clinic workers. I certainly hope that no one would be insane enough to grant such a request. But the fact that it’s even on the table is a sign of how completely nuts these people are, and the extent to which they will go to intimidate women’s health care workers.
Oh, and they’re bringing it up at a city council meeting, too.
I’m really fearful of what’s going to happen once the clinic is actually open. The goal might simply be to create such a disturbance that women will be too afraid to visit the clinic for their health care needs. I constantly worry about the emotional wear on these patients. I’m also genuinely fearful for the physical safety of the clinic workers. Such a high profile is clearly bringing out the craziest of the crazies . . . and the craziest of the crazies aren’t exactly peaceful. They’re fucking terrorists.
Donations can be made to Planned Parenthood Chicago Area, and letters of support can be sent to the Aurora clinic.
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this is just insane! outside their HOMES!? i sincerely hope that there are sane people overseeing these petitions…for the sake of workers and volunteers.
as if abortion is the only thing that takes place there! i have several friends who get their regulare ob/gyn check-ups at PP b/c they simply can’t afford it anywhere else…otherwise they might go w/o and that should be a crime in and of itself.
if not for PP one of those friends may never have had her endomitriosis (not sure on spelling) diagnosed in time to save her and her baby.
this is extremely sad…and makes me angry. the lengths people will go to simply to impose their will and (religious) beliefs on others! i mean, really, PRAYER groups? they need to pray for their own selfish souls…these places only help others…and that’s what i thought the religious right wanted…to save lives? wrong again i see.
My parents brought this BS to my attention this weekend, as the Diocese of Joliet (which they live in and the clinic is also in) is calling for prayer, fasting, organized protest and calling the facility an “abortion mill”. As the last commenter pointed out, it’s the height of hypocrisy to say they are all about Christian love and then deny women access to affordable health care.
I’ll forward your post along to my parents, Cara. Asking to protest at clinic workers’ houses is truly a new low in anti-choice bullshit.
It’s so synchronistic that I read this post today. Just last night, I was contemplating what it must be like to be a victim of rape, or just a victim of poverty and ignorance and have to make the decision to have an abortion. Then, be further traumatized and humiliated by people damning you for making that decision. What these pro-lifers don’t seem to understand is that having an abortion isn’t easy. I’ve never met a woman who had an abortion that thought it was easy. It’s an extremely hard decision and it’s very painful both physically and emotionally. If they really wanted to stop more abortions, they would focus their efforts on improving poverty, helping the education system in the inner city and rural areas (that’s not to say that those are the only people who have abortions) making sure that everyone had health care, punishing rapists, and helping to create a social climate where people can have babies and know that they will be supported and loved.
Thanks, moon_grrl. If your parents happen to be the activist type (or you know anyone else there who is), they might want to consider going to the city council meeting tomorrow night in support of the clinic– the anti-choicers are apparently go on a tirade about why the council should not allow it to open. I doubt that the meeting will go anywhere, since the council obviously approved it already and the building is ready to go, but still. Pro-choice visibility is really important right now.
Aww, hell. That’s near where I live. We’re fairly liberal around here for the Midwest, but we’ve got our share of religious zealots.
I live twenty minutes from Aurora and I am completely disgusted by this news. I’m sure that the protesters will have no qualms about harassing women who are going to the clinic for any reason. Planned Parenthood is a wonderful option for lower income areas to provide women with necessary health care at reduced rates or for free. These establishments are not “abortion mills,” they are clinics designed to help women, who may not be able to afford health insurance, receive yearly check ups, help plan successful pregnancies, and have SAFE abortions. Trying to shut down Planned Parenthood is like trying to shut down an entire pharmacy because they sell Plan B pills.
Perhaps, Erin, except that many anti-choice nuts are not only anti-abortion– they’re also anti-sex ed, anti-contraception and just plain anti-sex.
You’re right, about PP, though. I actually work for free there twice a week, and they are a wonderful organization.
This is absolutely disgusting. These people are supposedly religious and they act like this. What about “Judge not lest ye be judged yourself” or “separation of church and state” for that matter?
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