Aurora, Illinois Abortion Center Can’t Open Until Hearing Done Judge Rules

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 17, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Aurora, Illinois Abortion Center Can’t Open Until Hearing Done Judge Rules Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 17,
2007

Aurora, IL (LifeNews.com) — U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle issued a ruling on Wednesday saying that a new Planned Parenthood abortion business can’t open until he has completed a hearing on the matter. Judge Norgle wants attorneys for both Planned Parenthood and the city of Aurora to come back on Thursday and present more information.

The new abortion center, which has drawn national attention and numerous protests featuring several hundreds of people, was slated to open on Tuesday.

However, pro-life advocates asked city officials to investigate whether it violated any laws by putting a different name on its occupancy papers and admittedly misleading city officials about who would run the facility.

The city hired an outside attorney to investigate and the said it would not issue a permanent occupancy permit until the probe is complete. Planned Parenthood took the city to court asking Judge Norgle to allow it to open on Tuesday.

At an hourlong hearing on Monday, Norgle refused to grant Planned Parenthood’s request for an injunction to prevent city officials from closing it down should it try to open its doors.

Norgle did say that if the city completes its probe and allows Planned Parenthood to open that it can begin doing abortions.

"Planned Parenthood will NOT be opening their doors tomorrow," Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League told LifeNews.com. "That’s what we’ve been praying for these past 40 days, and those prayers have been answered. But the future is very uncertain."

The next hearing into the matter has been set for Thursday morning and Scheidler thinks the abortion center "will not open until Friday at the earliest."

His group is planning an evening vigil at the abortion center to continue the protests against it opening.