It Never Ends
Ah, Aurora, IL. Wealthy, conservative, smugly suburban. And of course horrified to find a Planned Parenthood in their midst.
What began earlier this month as a prayer vigil protesting a Planned Parenthood clinic under construction in Aurora morphed Saturday into what organizers hope is now a full-blown, regional battle over abortion.
....
"Aurora is in the midst of a historical movement with regard to abortion in the U.S.," said organizer Eric Scheidler, communications director for the Pro-Life Action League. "This city's slogan is, 'Second to None,' let's hope they just aren't second to none in aborting babies."
Or in reactionary freakouts about the possibility that women in suburban Chicago might have a safe, anonymous place to get reproductive healthcare in an atmosphere where their health care providers are as likely as not to let their anti-abortion zeal interfere with their professionalism:
Abortion opponent Jessica Thomspon of Aurora, a registered nurse who works in an obstetrics unit, said the clinic wouldn't be an issue if it were not going to offer abortions.
Much as some Aurorans would like to pretend, the difficulties there aren't just a question of local transparency or community values. There's a well-funded national campaign to attack Planned Parenthood--which, it shouldn't need to be said, provides birth control, pap smears, reproductive counselling, and in some cases overall health care to women (and sometimes even men!) to women who for reasons of privacy don't want to talk to their family docs, as well as to women who for reasons of poverty or lack of health insurance don't even *have* family docs.
the mounting furor in Aurora has raised hopes among abortion opponents nationwide who aim to put Planned Parenthood under siege this fall from coast to coast.
Abortions make up a fraction of Planned Parenthood's work -- about 3%. More than a third of the group's services involve providing contraception.
Still, Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider, terminating 265,000 pregnancies a year. It receives more than $300 million annually in public funds to subsidize non-abortion healthcare for poor women.
And its high visibility makes it a perennial target of anti-abortion activists.
This week, Colorado Right to Life began debating a strategy to block a Planned Parenthood clinic that is scheduled to break ground in Denver this fall. One of the options: picketing every subcontractor involved. That tactic delayed construction of an abortion facility in Austin, Texas, in 2003, though the clinic was eventually completed.
Separately, activists in 89 cities have laid plans for a 40-day "spiritual campaign" against Planned Parenthood starting late next month.
Participants in Sacramento; Sarasota, Fla.; Scranton, Pa.; Hilo, Hawaii; Lubbock, Texas; and Falls Church, Va., plan to distribute fliers, post yard signs and hold prayer vigils at all hours.
"Sooner or later, we've got to return some sense of decency to this country," said Joe Scheidler, president of the Pro-Life Action League, which is based in Chicago. "Maybe this is where it starts."
Small wonder that PP has set up a subsidiary, "Gemini Office Development," under which they apply for necessary permits; everyone's fine with "Gemini Health Clinic" as long as it doesn't offer a *full* range of women's health care.
Specifically, the Aurora clinic will offer
- pregnancy testing
- a range of contraceptive options
- emergency contraception
- gynecological services
- Pap tests
- colposcopy services for abnormal Pap tests
- sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment, including rapid HIV testing
- abortion services (both surgical and medication) with sedation options
- options counseling, including adoption referrals
Joe Scheidler, the president of the Pro-Life Action League, which is based in Chicago (not in Aurora!)
is gathering names of clinic employees. He plans to send activists to march outside their homes this fall, waving gory photos.
Gosh, I wonder why PP tries to hide its identity when setting up new clinics. I bet the workers wish they could hide theirs. All praise to them for being willing to put up with implicit threats in order to give the women of Chicago's western suburbs safe, affordable healthcare.
You can support PP here, donate to help keep the clinic open (and fund its legal battle) here,
Bitch_PhD wishes people would realize that PP probably *prevents* more abortions than it provides, what with contraception and emergency contraception and actually educating people about birth control and all.
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SignalNoise
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February 2004
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