San Antonio Pro-Life Advocates Still Fighting to Stop New Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz

State   |   Sarah Zagorski   |   Jun 19, 2015   |   2:28PM   |   San Antonio, TX

In Texas, a lawsuit against the city of San Antonio over the zoning of a new Planned Parenthood facility has been dropped after the woman who filed the suit, Thelma Franco, began to become concerned about her privacy rights. KENS 5 News reports that the city association chairman, Patrick Von Dohlen, said the fight is not over because the facility clearly violates city-zoning rules.

He said, “We want a just application of the zoning laws of the city of San Antonio to protect residential neighborhoods. In this case, Dream Hills Estate because they deserve to be protected.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman, Mara Posada responded and said, “Planned Parenthood’s new home was first built in 1983 as a medical office building, listed on the official map of the South Texas Medical Center. We have made no changes to increase the building’s external footprint. This is the same 22,000 square foot medical office building where people have been seeking health care for 32 years. At every step of this construction project we have worked with experienced professionals to ensure that we are complying with all applicable rules and regulations. Our new home is a physical expression of our commitment to protect the health and safety of women.”

As LifeNews previously reported, the abortion business is planning to open a $6.5 million facility that covers 22,000 sq. ft. However, the Senior Planner for the city, Trenton Robertson, issued Planned Parenthood a letter that stated their facility could not open because it’s not properly zoned for an ambulatory surgical center. According to the Texas Scorecard, his superiors then called for his termination even though he was just doing his job by applying the United Development Code.

In 2013, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2 (HB2), which mandated that abortion facilities meet the same safety standards of other Ambulatory Surgical Centers in the state, as well as require abortionists to attain hospital-admitting privileges. Now Planned Parenthood is trying to get special treatment from the city and open their facility anyway.

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Thankfully, even though the lawsuit has been dropped, pro-lifers plan to file another one if the San Antonio Family Association refuses to address the zoning issue. So far, a group called Stop Planned Parenthood has been able to slow down the abortion giant’s progress. Previously, the pro-life group was successful in securing a court order barring the city from issuing them a certificate of occupancy and from approving a special use permit for now.

They said in a press release, “The city department in charge of issuing permits for building constructions has issued conflicting opinions on whether a major ambulatory surgical center can be provided a zoning permit as a C1 business, usually issued to mom and pop businesses. The new Planned Parenthood site is zoned C1, while similar medical centers in San Antonio are zoned C3.”

Unfortunately, if Planned Parenthood does open it has the potential to drastically increase the state’s abortion rate since it will be one of the largest facilities in south Texas.

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