Archive for the 'Law & Politics' Category

Note: This entry is cross-posted at Families Against Planned Parenthood.

The Aurora police did a great job of keeping the peace and defending our First Amendment rights—that is, until the near the end of the Rally, when Police Chief William Powell and Corporation Counsel Alayne Weingartz came on the scene.

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It seems we're not the only ones suing and Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area and PP/CA CEO Steve Tombley. One of our researchers recently uncovered two lawsuits that reveal some internal strife at PP/CA.

In one suit, Dr. Murray Pelta, O.B. Gyn, medical director at PP/CA for ten years, is suing Planned Parenthood and Steve Trombley for firing him in violation of his employment agreement.

In his Verified Complaint [PDF], Pelta states that he did favors for Trombley, like writing “discreet” medical prescriptions for Trombley’s personal use, without recording or reporting them.

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According to this news article about the arrest of eight members of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in North Carolina on Tuesday:

College officials said the group refused to comply with their requests and acted confrontational, shoving one of the security guards.

“Confrontational”? “Shoving”?

You tell me:

See also this post on the Survivors blog, Response to Survivors’ Press Conference in Asheville.

God love you, Survivors!

HT: Jill Stanek

From an e-mail Eric just sent:

In light of recent developments, I think it would be a good idea for many of us to be present at City Hall [at] 4:30 when the mayor and aldermen will meet in a “Committee of the whole.”

Here’s the news:

1. I am informed that NO ABORTIONS were scheduled for today — in fact, it looks like no clients were being seen. So we can afford to devote some forces to prayer at City Hall.
2. We have filed an appeal with the Aurora Zoning Board of Appeals today. That appeal SHOULD have resulted in an immediate stay, with Planned Parenthood remaining closed. The City is not enforcing the law, once again, so we need to be there with our witness.

Finally, I have important news about the Prayer Vigil. Because Planned Parenthood is now open, the time has come to shift from a round-the-clock vigil to a “Life Force Team” mode.

This means that we will commit to being present at the Planned Parenthood site during ALL hours that they are open.

Please visit the vigil page to pledge to be there praying when PP is open. The calendar will now display the hours from 7-5 each day.

I’ll write again soon with more information on this new phase of our ongoing prayer campaign.

Meanwhile, please join me at City Hall this afternoon at 4:30 to pray for the mayor, corporation counsel and aldermen.

No matter where you are, no matter when you actually read this, please offer some prayers that Aurora city officials do the right thing.

And, if you’d like to follow the Aurora Planned Parenthood situation more closely, please sign up for Eric’s e-mail updates here.

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said today he will issue Aurora Planned Parenthood an occupancy permit within 24 hours.

Keep an eye on Jill Stanek’s blog for updates on this developing story.

In Other News

Today we filed a libel lawsuit against Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area.

Here’s the press release issued by our attorney:

October 1, 2007
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society

Planned Parenthood Sued for Libelous Statements Against Pro-Life Advocates

Thomas More Society of Chicago Will Seek Maximum Damages on Behalf of Protesters in Aurora Accused of Advocating Violence

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Keeping up with all the developments surrounding the Aurora Planned Parenthood situation has been keeping us busy lately.

There are several things I’ve been wanting to post about for a while now, but am just getting around to it now.

Here are a few of those “several things”.

Pro-Life Memorial Day

Sponsored by American Life League, this annual event is this Monday, October 1. Even though it’s just a few days from now, it’s not too late to participate.

Get more information here.

Pro-Life Day of Silent Day Solidarity

Sponsored by Stand True Ministries, this is also an annual event, scheduled for Tuesday, October 23.

There’s more information here.

Equal Rights for Pro-Life Clubs

We’re often been asked by public school students if it’s possible to start a pro-life club at their school. The answer is yes.

Believe it or not, it’s sometimes even easier for public school students to start a pro-life club at their school than it is for students in a private school.

That’s because the Equal Access Act, passed by the U. S. Congress in 1984, prohibits nearly all public schools from discriminating against student-run clubs based on viewpoint.

Some schools have tried to discriminate against certain student clubs, but when they do, and when, in response, students challenge their schools in court, it’s students who consistently win.

Just last week, for example, a federal judge ruled that Farmington Hills High School in Farmington, Michigan must grant the school’s Bible club the same rights and privileges as other extracurricular clubs. Aaron Girder, the president and co-founder of the club, had sued his school after the administration denied his club these rights.

If you’re in a public school and you want to start a pro-life club at your school, or if you know someone who is, we’d be glad to help you do that. And if a school administrator tells you can’t start a pro-life club, say — respectfully — that you have a right to start one if you want to.

And if the administrator still says no, then talk to us. We know some great pro-life lawyers who would love to help you out.

Calling All Artists (and Poets, and Videographers, etc., etc.)

For those of you who are feeling especially creative, you won’t want to miss your chance to enter The 3rd Annual Margaret Sanger at the Ku Klux Klan Rally Art Contest.

Yes, it’s true: Margaret Sanger, the founder of the largest abortion provider in the country, Planned Parenthood, spoke to the Women’s Branch of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey in 1926.

Full details on the contest are available at The Truth About Margaret Sanger.

Steve Trombley says Planned Parenthood will “stop at nothing” to open their Abortion Fortress of Aurora. So what else is new? We’ve already seen that Planned Parenthood won’t be held back by any notion of honesty or respect for the rule of law.

So far they haven’t done worse than that—bad as it is—and for now I’ll assume Trombley meant those words only to intimidate the City Council with the prospect of a long legal battle.

But just imagine if I were to say we’ll “stop at nothing” to keep them from opening. I’d be accused of threatening violence.

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U. S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle has just ruled against Planned Parenthood’s demand to let them open the largest abortion clinic in the country before the City of Aurora’s investigation into Planned Parenthood’s dealings with the city is completed.

So for now, the Abortion Fortress of Aurora remains CLOSED.

Huzzah!

***UPDATE, 1:40PM: The Aurora Beacon article on the judge’s ruling is here, which ridiculously refers to the Abortion Fortress of Aurora as a “full-service health center”.

As Christina from Real Choice pointed out in a comment on the blog After Abortion last week:

They won’t prescribe a refill for your inhaler. They won’t give you a tetanus shot if you step on a nail. They won’t adjust your depression medication. They won’t treat your flu or your diarrhea or your hives or your sprained wrist.

They are not a full-service health center, any more than Jiffy Lube is a full-service mechanic.

From the Aurora Beacon:

Planned Parenhood’s Aurora center will not open on Tuesday as legal wrangling continues. A federal judge Monday set another hearing for Thursday to address issues by both sides in an ongoing lawsuit.

The best line from the story about the non-opening of Planned Parenthood’s ginormous Abortion Fortress tomorrow is this:

Planned Parenthood President and CEO Steve Trombley counted the judge’s ruling as a victory for Planned Parenthood saying that it is clear the judge took the issue seriously.

Um, if you sue the city to force you to open on a particular day, and if the judge in the case does not rule that the city must allow you to open on that particular day, how can that possibly be considered a victory?

***UPDATE: 1:35PM…Eric was at this morning’s hearing and sends along this additional information: (more…)

Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area is suing the City of Aurora to allow it to open next Tuesday.

***UPDATE: 9/13, 4:40PM: A copy of the lawsuit is here [PDF].

On Tuesday we returned to the Aurora City Council to respond publicly to the lies that Planned Parenthood has been telling about us and to commend the City Council for launching an independent investigation into PP’s dealings with the City.

We were assured by Mayor Weisner that adequate time would be given to complete, study and act upon the investigation, even if that meant Planned Parenthood’s temporary occupancy permit would expire on September 18. Despite the his earlier flip-flop on the deadline, I’m ready to take the Mayor’s word on this. (more…)

***UPDATE: 9/13, 1:15PM: Jeff from Chicago Pro-Life Activist has produced two video montages from Tuesday’s City Council meeting, which include excerpts from the testimonies of both pro-lifers and pro-aborts:

The Aurora Planned Parenthood situation continues to get more interesting every day. (more…)

From last night…Check it out:

Yesterday I reported on Planned Parenthood’s local and nationwide schemes to fight back against our popular, grassroots campaign to protect our families from their massive new “Abortion Fortress,” slated to open September 18.

That was before I read the letter [PDF] that PP/Chicago Area CEO Steve Trombley sent to the Mayor and Aldermen—three pages almost entirely given over to attacking us pro-lifers, especially my father, Joe Scheidler, including this passage:

After a six-week trial in 1998, a jury in Chicago unanimously found that the Pro-Life Action League Network orchestrated 121 crimes involving acts of threats of force or violence against women’s health facilities that offered abortion. These crimes proven at trial included . . .

Trombley goes on to list some of the outrageous accusations—testimony now known to be perjured—hurled at my father in the 1998 NOW v. Scheidler trial (not, as Trombley claims “proven at trial”). But most significantly, he fails to mention that the jury decision against my father was ultimately overturned not once but twice by the U.S. Supreme Court (2003 and 2006). (more…)

***Scroll for Updates…Jill Stanek’s slide show from last night’s meeting added below…Additional Updates added 8/30, 12:06PM…see below***

Last night, an overflow crowd of pro-lifers jammed the City Council meeting in Aurora, IL to speak out against the Planned Parenthood Abortion Fortress scheduled to open there next month.

The Aurora Beacon article about the meeting is headlined: “Anti-abortion, abortion-rights activists pack City Council”.

From this headline, you’d probably guess that the numbers of pro-life and pro-abortion activists present at the meeting were more or less equal, right?

Here’s how the article opens:

AURORA — Close to 200 people packed City Council chambers Tuesday night, spilled into the hallways and trailed down stairwells — turning the usually staid meeting into a sometimes fiery exchange, shouting down one alderman and plowing through a three-minute speaking time rule.

With many railing against a Planned Parenthood women’s health center set to open in three weeks, the second-floor meeting room was bursting at the seams with 124 people signed up to talk about the health center — an item not on the City Council’s agenda. [emphasis added]

What the article doesn’t say is that of the 124 people who signed up to address the City Council:

2 were pro-abortion.

122 were pro-life. (more…)