Less than a week before a controversial Planned Parenthood clinic is set to open in Aurora, supporters are stepping up efforts to counter what they call the “untruths” of the opposition. On Wednesday, a group of Chicago religious leaders called for a day of prayer in support of the clinic. Planned Parenthood’s temporary occupancy permit is scheduled to expire Monday, and city staff said a final occupancy permit hinges on the results of an ongoing review of the planning and development process.
City staff also said they would consider issuing a temporary occupancy permit with restrictions that would allow Planned Parenthood staff to continue to move in but not open for business Tuesday as planned.
Although the issue was not on this week’s City Council agenda, more than 100 abortion-rights demonstrators, most from Aurora and the surrounding communities the clinic would serve, rallied outside City Hall.
A few dozen protesters against abortion rights also demonstrated.
Steve Trombley, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood in Chicago, said the organization has broken its long-standing silence because of what’s being said.
“As the opposition geared up, they spread a lot of mistruths about Planned Parenthood, so we felt that we had to stand up and set the record straight,” he said.
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The Chicago ministers from American Baptist Church, Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ called for a day of prayer Sunday, saying it is important to show the public that not all religious leaders are opposed to abortion.
“It seems a lot of times the religious right has claimed the entire domain of spirituality as their own. We wanted to give a face to what we believe is a huge number of people who are religious and are liberal and who believe a woman has a right to choose her own reproductive rights,” said Ana Levy-Lyons, assistant minister at the Unity Temple in Oak Park.
The ministers also called for mutual respect.
“While we embrace dialogue on religious questions, we think that dialogue ought to be between religious leaders, not in the form of harassment and intimidation at the doors of a clinic,” said Randall Doubet-King, retired pastor of the United Church of Christ.
Abortion-rights supporters such as Sandwich residents Jaime Philip, 22, and her boyfriend, Nick Jones, 21, wore hot-pink Planned Parenthood Action T-shirts and carried signs that read: “This family supports Planned Parenthood.” Philip said she has used Planned Parenthood clinics for inexpensive access to birth control.
“I feel that this should be kept a woman’s choice and I think that the clinic is a great thing,” Philip said.
The opposition, led by Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, has expressed disdain for the clinic and the larger abortion issue. Hundreds of opponents of abortion rights came to the Aug. 28 City Council meeting, filling the chambers, hallways and stairwells. More than 140 people spoke at that meeting. Two people spoke in support of the clinic.
“Specifically, you will hear that Planned Parenthood is merely providing a service and that there is a demand,” said Rev. Dan Hone, director of The Gabriel Project, a crisis women’s pregnancy center in Aurora. “There is a demand for pornography in Aurora. There is a demand for heroin in Aurora. That doesn’t mean the council has to oblige.”
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