Illinois Pro-Life Activists Continue Campaign Against Aurora Abortion Center 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 15, 2007
Aurora, IL (LifeNews.com) — Planned Parenthood secretly built a new abortion center in Aurora that will be opening next month. But pro-life advocates are starting a new 40-day protest campaign there that probably won’t result in closing it down but should result in opening hearts and minds to the truth about abortion.
"Next month, Planned Parenthood intends to open one of the largest abortuaries on the face of the earth," Pro-Life Action League communications director Eric Scheidler told LifeNews.com. "We’re praying that never happens."
Scheidler’s group is leading a massive prayer campaign to stop the opening of a new, 22,000 square-foot Planned Parenthood facility at 3051 E. New York Street in Chicago’s western suburbs.
The 40-day around-the-clock vigil started on August 9 and will continue through September 18, the date the abortion business is slated to open.
Scheidler, an Aurora resident, said he is upset by the way Planned Parenthood built the abortion facility with virtually no one in the public knowing beforehand.
"Planned Parenthood snuck into our town — neither the city of Aurora nor many of the contractors working on the building knew what it really was," he said. "Now they’re going to try to sneak into our schools, drive a wedge between parents and children, and begin killing unborn babies here. Not without a fight."
The new building was constructed under the name "Gemini Medical Office Building" and it wasn’t until a contractor familiar with the construction tipped off pro-life advocates that anyone knew Planned Parenthood’s plans.
Scheidler said the news came just 10 months after local pro-life advocates celebrated the closing of the abortion business run by Aleksander Jakubowski.
But local activists by the hundreds are rallying to fight the massive new center, which has been dubbed the "Abortion Fortress" because of its high brick walls, bulletproof glass and numerous security cameras.
Scheidler acknowledged that it will be hard to stop the facility from opening.
"Planned Parenthood knew what they were doing. Pro-lifers have stymied them before when they knew Planned Parenthood was coming to town. This time they kept things quiet until it was too late to halt construction," he explained.
Churches of all denominations from throughout the Chicago area are taking part in the 40-Day Vigil.
"This is the most powerful grassroots pro-life effort I’ve ever seen," he commented. "We can scarcely keep track of the prayer pledges coming in."
The pro-lifers have set up a web site for the campaign, FamiliesAgainstPlannedParenthood.org, where concerned citizens can learn about the danger of Planned Parenthood, get resources, and even sign up for the Vigil.
A community meeting is planned at the Prisco Center, 150 W. Illinois in Aurora on Thursday, August 16, at 7 p.m. A massive protest is planned at the Planned Parenthood site August 25 from 9-11 a.m.
