Chicago bubble zone pushback/backfire
Last week the Chicago City Council approved an abortion clinic bubble zone “at the behest of Planned Parenthood,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times, that:
… creates a protection zone within a 50-foot radius of the entrance to any hospital, medical clinic or health care facility. Within that zone, no one could get closer than 8 feet to pass materials, display signs, protest, educate or counsel another person without their consent.
Mayor Richard Daley, a Catholic pro-abort, says he’ll sign the ordinance…
Daley said he anticipates a court challenge, but he’s confident the ordinance drafted by his Law Department will stand up to legal scrutiny….
The Chicago law – which carries a $500 fine – is patterned after an even stricter CO law that already has passed muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. In CO, the buffer is 100 feet.
I spoke with Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League this morning as well as attorney Tom Brejcha of the Thomas More Society. Will they sue, I asked?
Yes. Pro-lifers plan to immediately sue to enjoin the bubble zone law once enacted.
The US Supreme Court did indeed uphold the CO case, Hill v. Colorado, in 2000. But Brejcha maintains the make-up of the court is different.
“Vehement dissent was written on that case by Justice Kennedy, the so-called swing vote,” Brecha told me. “And David Souter is gone. In his place is Sonia Sotomayor, who ruled in favor of pro-lifers on the 2nd Circuit in a free speech case. All you need are 4 justices voting in agreement for a case to be heard by the Supreme Court.”
But there are cards to play before getting to that point. Note the bubble zone will be in front of any “hospital, medical clinic or health care facility.”
The Service Employees International Union, which frequently attempts to unionize employees as they enter and leave work in front of nonunion hospitals, is not going to like that. An SEIU rep even tried to persuade me as I was in my car leaving the parking garage at Christ Hospital once. Such is an unforeseen consequence, perhaps why the ACLU has come out in opposition to the Chicago bubble zone ordinance.
But the “ace in the hole,” according to Brejcha, is the IL Labor Dispute Act, which gives union members the right to “picket[ ] the primary employer wherever they happen to be.”
Incredibly, the Act goes so far as to allow “[t]he erection of tents or other temporary shelter for the health, welfare, personal safety, and well?being of picketers… on the public right of way” so long as pedestrians can pass and emergency vehicles gain access. The Act even allows up to “10 vehicles on the public right of way.”
According to the Act, any ordinance in violation of the IL Labor Dispute Act is voided. This would appear to include the abortion bubble zone ordinance.
Finally, there is the backatcha, according to Scheidler. “The Chicago bubble zone ordinance would work both ways. If I’m a sidewalk counselor, and I have been given permission by a woman to speak with her and am inside this 50-foot zone, deathscorts can’t come within 8 feet of me.”
Typically, deathscorts attempt to get between pregnant mothers entering abortion and pro-lifers talking to them.
Stay tuned. This ain’t close to being over.
[Photo courtesy of Spokane Valley Online]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Great article, Jill. Hadn’t realized that Kennedy was in dissent in Hill v Colorado and that Rehnquist was in the majority.
Big question is, where do Alito and Roberts stand on public protest? Rehnquist was very much of a “law and order” kind of guy, so I can understand his vote in Hill.
Interesting Sotomayor angle, too.
It’s NOT facsism when the progressive/liberal/humanists stifle speech with which they disagree.
yor bro ken
Mary-Louise Kurey, Director of the Archdiocese of Chicago Respect Life Office, has written an excellent Letter to the Editor regarding the Chicago Bubble Zone ordinance and the misrepresentations of sidewalk counselor activities which led to the ordinance being passed. The letter was published October 9, 2009.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi091009kurey_briefs,0,951278.story
Catholics:
Can you start communicating to the mayor’s priest that if he continues such a path, he should be excommunicated? Shouldn’t the authority of the church stand for something?
xalisae,
Sometimes men fail us, but God never does.
Earlier, I meant to post a prayer. Here are two.
The Our Father
Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
Jill,
Is there any way to get a “tally” of how the phone votes regarding the bubble zone went? It would be interesting to see if Daly is going with the majority or “something else”. (I know, dumb question, but still…)
Janet,
In the prayer you posted, “The Memorare”, it opened with a prayer to Mary and closed without asking her anything. I don’t get it.
“Within that zone, no one could get closer than 8 feet to pass materials, display signs, protest, educate or counsel another person without their consent.”
Does this mean that protesters need to have the person they are talking to sign a “consent to talk to” form? Hmm… Maybe this form would list possible side effects of talking to a pro-lifer: “Slight chance of increased knowledge, informed consent, understanding that the unborn are human beings, and the rethinking of a very important decision.” At least the form would protect pro-life protesters in court! :)
Hey Xalisae. How are you and your family doing? I wanted to ask the same question that you asked Catholic prolifers on this blog. Can’t the parish priest and Cardinal George do something about this maybe try to talk to him and then if he refuses to listen to at least censure Daley in some way? This whole situation is such a travesty of the tenets of the Church. How can he be considered a “faithful Catholic” and do this stuff? What has caused him to have allegiance to abortionist? Is he in some way hateful toward the Church or is he that blinded about how precious life is even after losing an infant to disease (I don’t remember why but he had a baby die many years ago)? Is he so angry at God for the death of his baby that he has lost his faith? I do not understand any of this? Who at PP has Daley’s ear and has pushed him in this direction? Is his wife, Maggie, pro-abortion? Sorry I have so many questions, I had just talked to my family about this and had the same question as Xalisae except a few more.
Xalisae, I have been praying for you and your family, I hope you will have some good news soon.
Jill – we pro-aborts would love a post about this major study that addresses two major ‘anti’ talking points. That:
1. abortion bans decrease termination rates and,
2. increased contraception distribution increases termination rates
This is a major win for the pro side from an independent, peer-reviewed American journal. Well played.
“…an independent, peer-reviewed American journal”
Huh? Guttmacher Institute is not “independent” in the sense of not having an abortion agenda. Also, this is not a peer-reviewed journal article, but an article put out by the Guttmacher Institute. Finally, here is a link to the actual article http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/AWWfullreport.pdf so we don’t have to take the BBC’s word for anything.
BTW, here is an example of the kind of scholarship we’ve all come to expect from Guttmacher. On page 32, they state “Globally, an estimated 70,000 women die every year as a
result of unsafe abortions,137” where the number 137 refers to reference number 137 found at the end of the article. This reference should presumably tell us the methodology by which the author arrived at the number 70,000. Here is what reference 137 says:
137. Åhman E, estimate for 2005, personal communication,
Feb. 3, 2009.
Personal Communication. WOW. Now this is not an uncommon thing to do in articles, but it is usually something trivial- not an integral part of the research paper. I thought that the purpose of “peer-reviewed” articles was so that other scientists could repeat your experiments and test your methodologies and see if they arrive at the same conclusion. In this case, though, we have NO IDEA where the number 70000 came from. No one can look at the methodology to see if it was derived from reasonable estimates.
I’m sure this is just one small example of the junk-science way that Guttmacher promotes. Of course, the MSM will eat this all up, grabbing out a few choice quotes, using it to further push their pro-abortion agenda. They eat up everything Guttmacher puts out with out questioning anything or thinking for themselves. Sunrise, sunset.
Guttmacher Institute independent? In a pig’s eye! Why would they ever release any research that would cause their employer, PP or should I say Planned Barrenhood or Banned Parenthood, to lose money on contraceptives or lose money on their major cash cow “abortion”. It would not happen. It’s ok pro-aborts, we are already well aware that you worship at the altar of dead babies (even those who survive botched abortions), promiscuous, premarital sex in any form, variety or gender preference, the dispensing of hormonal poisons in any form imaginable (pills, shots, cervical rings, IUDs, patches, maybe snorting contraceptives up women’s noses will come next) no matter how many women die from cancers, blood clots or other side effects, no matter how many woman become infertile from abortions and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease caused by STDs. Didn’t you know that getting pregnant while you are playing “contraception roulette” and having an unplanned baby is the worst curse that could ever happen to you. Pregnancy is a disease and unborn babies are “parasites” that need to be mutilated and exterminated, UNLESS you just happen to want a baby this time around. It is all good, “free love at any cost”. The largest abortion provider in the entire country will even justify killing unborn babies with their own research if necessary.
This ordinance raises a number of questions. Spend a day in downtown Chicago and it is not unusual to be approached by someone leafletting for or against a particular cause or political candidate. Does this eight foot bubble zone which restricts the manner of offering leaflets to women approaching abortion clinics also apply to those leafletting on other issues, or is it just directed at pro-lifers? Can leafletting be legal in some instances, but illegal in others? As disgusting as it may be, even Nazis and skinheads can leaflet outside synagogues without an eight foot bubble. Is the double standard legal? Why are Chicago politicians so beholden to Planned Parenthood? Is it true PP has been sprinkling a little gold dust among certain council members, who just happened to vote in favor of the ordinance?
Excellent comments on Guttmacher. Just to add something… I noticed today at http://www.abortioneers.blogspot.com
that under the heading of “Abortion Friendly Web Sites” they have listed the “Alan Guttmacher Institute”.
* * * *
“Janet,
In the prayer you posted, “The Memorare”, it opened with a prayer to Mary and closed without asking her anything. I don’t get it.”
Posted by: Marie at October 13, 2009 6:53 PM
Marie,
That’s a very good question. I should have been clearer in my response for non-Catholics readers. The “petitions” in the prayer refer to what would be a special request that is made by the person saying the Memorare prayer. Me, in this case, and anyone else who would like to make a special request or additional prayer. In this case, I would be praying for Mayor Daley’s heart to be changed so that he would decide to vote down the bubble ordinance and/or that Francis Cardinal George of Chicago (or Daley’s pastor) would intervene on this issue and remind Mayor Daley of the “right” course of action. In general, non-Catholics do not say prayers to Mary, but I and other Catholics believe that Mary will take our prayers immediately to our Lord for his consideration. (Who would not listen to a serious request from his mother?) I hope that helps. Other Catholics reading here may have a comment which I would welcome here. :)
Prolifer L,
I can’t begin to guess what Mayor Daley is thinking. He and Francis Cardinal George have not always seen eye to eye on issues, but I don’t know the details of their relationship. As I noted above, we can pray that they will do the right thing.
“Jill,
Is there any way to get a “tally” of how the phone votes regarding the bubble zone went? It would be interesting to see if Daly is going with the majority or “something else”. (I know, dumb question, but still…)”
Marie, I was wondering the same thing! I heard/or read (sorry, I don’t remember where) that when Mayor Daley found out that the telephone system was set up to record callers responses (“yes” or “no”) regarding the passage of the ordinance, he dismantled it. Apparently it was set up to without his authorization by someone who wanted to make the handling of the calls easier. I don’t know if the results were tabulated.
“This reference should presumably tell us the methodology by which the author arrived at the number 70,000. Here is what reference 137 says:
137. Åhman E, estimate for 2005, personal communication,
Feb. 3, 2009.”
Excellent point, Bobby.
This is an example of what my brother calls, “I think, therefore it’s true,” methodology.
What amazes me is that Daly is supporting this when even the ACLU says its wrong.
Thank you Janet.
Sorry if I offended you by saying “prayer to Mary”. I just alwyas thought praying = asking/petitioning/thanking, etc. But thanks for your explanation.
I didn’t know that about the voting thing, either. Interesting.
Marie,
No problem! Others have asked questions in the past about the Virgin Mary, so I decided to elaborate.
Have a nice day!
Thanks Bobby for posting the link to the Guttmacher Institute propaganda. This is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever read posing as research. The acknowledgement page alone gives the whole story about who is behind this I will just list the names of the major organizations sponsoring this piece of garbage:
World Health Organization
United Nations Population Fund
Ibis Reproductive Health
Harvard School of Public Health
Center for Reproductive Rights
International PLANNED PARENTHOOD Federation
Fundacion Orientame and Fundacion Educacion para la Salud Reproductiva
Population Reference Bureau
Population Council
Swedish Asso. for Sexuality Education
Planned Parenthood Asso. of Ghana
Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy (Nigeria)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“The Guttmacher Institute gratefully acknowledges the general support it receives from individuals and foundations-including major grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the Ford Foundation and others-which undergirds all of the Institutes work.”
Need I say more.
Jill, can some of your staff possibly find out the timing of releasing this garbage while the US Congress is debating Obama Healthcare? I did hear local Channel 2 News at 11am refer to this so-called study today where no one mentioned that this study was put out by the researchers for PP or should I say Planned Barrenhood, something smells rotten about the timing of this. The whole report is dedicating to the promotion of abortion around the world. This so-called report keeps repeating the phrases “safe abortion” and “unsafe abortion” and how much every woman needs access to “safe abortion”. “Safe” for who? Definitely NOT for all the DEAD MUTILATED babies!!!
wow…funding from Hewlett-Packard, huh? That’d be a tricky one to boycott.
The Pro Life Action League is planning to fight this ordinance in the courts if Mayor Daley signs it. Please contact the Mayor’s office in Chicago on Monday morning to voice your opposition.