Deception, Lies and Misinformation

Yet again the anti-choice side is stooping to outright lies and misinformation in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Planned Parenthood from opening our clinic.

As several of our supporters have reported (here and here) one of the antis' major talking points at Tuesday’s meeting was a supposed permit non-profit organizations need in order to operate a health center in Aurora. This false claim was put forward by anti-choice lawyer Vince Tessitore. Upon this the entire anti-choice argument staked their claim. Anti-choice rabble-rouser Eric Scheilder even went so far as to claim:

Every brick, every sheet of “bullet proof glass,” every blade of grass being protected by that dangerous fencing erected along the sidewalk was placed in violation of the law.

Trying a little hard eh? This is outright misinformation specifically crafted to confuse and muddle the issue. The Aurora Beacon News reported on this false claim today and quoted the response of city officials to Tessitore’s claim:

…city officials on Wednesday said that since the Planned Parenthood health center is in a planned development district, those codes don't apply.

The center occupies land that was part of a 4,000-acre annexation in August 1973, the same one that brought the Westfield Fox Valley mall into Aurora. This area has its own zoning laws, through planned development district rules, and those laws don't require a special-use permit for medical centers, said Carie Anne Ergo, the city's public information officer.

So there you go. Just to reiterate because it bears repeating: there was no need for special non-profit permitting for the Aurora Health Center. Like the multiple reviews by the City Council, this is yet another red herring tossed in by the anti-choice side who’s trying desperately to keep our center from opening.