(As we go to press, the Aurora City Council granted an occupancy permit to the Aurora Planned Parenthood Clinic after Kane County state’s attorneys said there was no fraud involved in getting the building permit. Anti-choice fanatics vowed to continue their attacks.)

* * *

Chicago--Women in the rapidly-growing western suburbs of Chicago have been denied access to affordable health care after U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle, on Sept. 20, turned down Planned Parenthood’s request for an emergency court order allowing it to open its new health care center in Aurora after the city council questioned the legality of its building permit.

The council had previously approved construction of the clinic, one of the largest in the country--knowing it was Planned Parenthood--and granted it a temporary occupancy permit in August.

Anti-abortion protesters descended on the town with their misogynist rhetoric. Council then backed down from their original approval after political pressure from the protesters.

But the clinic is not without a growing number of supporters. Pro-choice advocates crowded Planned Parenthood’s website (www.auroraplannedparenthood.org) to put their names on ribbons being displayed outside the new center.

Religious leaders from throughout the Chicago area organized a day of prayer in support of the clinic. They said they wanted to reclaim the moral mantle from the anti-abortion opposition. They felt that ensuring women’s access to health care, including abortions, is consistent with the lessons of their faith.

According to the Rev. Ana Levy-Lyons, "The religious Right believes they have heard the voice of God, and they try to impose their hearing of it on the rest of us by law. But there are many women of faith who have heard a different voice of God when they prayed."

Even the not-always-progressive CHICAGO SUN-TIMES published a three-quarter page editorial titled: "Let the Aurora Clinic Open: Many Women Need Its Reproductive Services." They point out that at least 60,000 young adult women in the Chicago area seek Planned Parenthood services each year. Quality health care and access to abortion must not be limited to people who can afford it in the privacy of their family doctor’s office. Girls and women in Aurora deserve access to a range of reproductive health services.

Chicago Area Planned Parenthood President Steve Trombley reiterated that their "main concern is that every day the health center is not open, more women go without pap tests, birth control supplies, breast exams and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. These are critical services that this community has been lacking and that we will provide. We anticipate being back in court shortly," Trombley said.

--MJG

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