. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
This Special Report on the Pro-Life Action League's battle in Aurora, Illinois is divided into seven parts.
The Jericho March Finale gets underway, Sept. 15, led by Mary Kate Guest of Youth for Truth [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
On September 11, the pro-life community returned to City Council to respond to Steve Trombley's lies about us in his letter to our mayor and aldermen, and to demand that the investigation launched by Mayor Weisner be truly independent and thorough. We had good reason to suspect that the mayor wasn't interested in a real investigation.
In fact, the first investigator appointed by the mayor, attorney Richard Martens, was found to have close ties to the city's outside law firm. Several aldermen objected to his appointment, and he was removed—or so we thought. Two aldermen then worked together to find another investigator, and finally proposed attorney Phillip Leutkehans, who took over the investigation.
Despite this disruption to the investigation, the mayor insisted in a memo to the aldermen that it must be completed before Planned Parenthood's scheduled opening date of September 18, even though he had explicitly promised me on August 28 that no deadline would be imposed—a promise caught on videotape and broadcast on YouTube.
Planned Parenthood now knew what was at stake, and they pulled out all the stops for the September 11 City Council meeting. I received a tip that they were closing their downtown Chicago office early that day to bring their staff out for a rally at City Hall. Some of their supporters were seen in cars with out-of-state license plates.
Outside City Hall, the pro-life and pro-Planned Parenthood groups squared off. Planned Parenthood passed out pink t-shirts and signs to their supporters. I supplied the pro-lifers who weren't able to get inside the building—including my parents—with Stop Abortion Now and Planned Parenthood: Bad for Aurora signs.
Before the public comment period at the September 11 City Council meeting, Mayor Weisner assured us that adequate time would be given to the investigation into whether Planned Parenthood defrauded the city, even if it meant they wouldn't open on time. Then the City Council voted to limit public comment to three hours, clearly dreading another late-night meeting. Aurora voters took note of which aldermen opposed the motion.
So for three hours, members of the public spoke out: 56 of the 67 speakers—over 80%—voiced opposition to Planned Parenthood. Many urged the council not to believe Steve Trombley's lies about pro-life violence, pointing out that the only acts of violence committed during the entire campaign were attacks on participants at the Vigil by abortion supporters, resulting in two arrests.
The pro-life clergy press conference at the Sept. 15 Jericho March Finale earned massive media coveage [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
During an interview with a local television reporter the next morning, I learned that a small group of clergy had held a press conference in downtown Chicago, 40 miles away, to express their support of Planned Parenthood and "pray" that the facility would open. I was getting a great deal of my news directly from reporters those days, with scant time to read the papers myself, and this was the first I heard of the pro-abortion clergy statement.
It couldn't have come at a better moment. For weeks, activists Mary Vilim, a Catholic, and Mary Faye Vasen, a Protestant, had been gathering signatures from clergy throughout the Fox Valley for a public statement opposing Planned Parenthood. The statement was drafted by Pastor Jeff Moore of Aurora's First Presbyterian Church and beautifully laid out by a Catholic graphic designer, Michelle Dellinger, who donated her talents to the effort. The statement was set to be published in two local papers that Sunday.
I told the reporter about the statement—with 120 clergy signatures—and on the spot decided that our group would hold a clergy press conference of our own that Saturday, during the finale of the week-long Jericho March. In trying to beat us to the punch with their own clergy statement, Planned Parenthood actually heightened media interest in the pro-life clergy statement and helped ensure major media coverage for the Jericho March.
Two days later—Friday, September 14—the City of Aurora likewise played into our hands when their lawyers went into federal court in Chicago to try to halt the Jericho March. For five evenings in a row, 200-400 prayer warriors had been peacefully marching around Planned Parenthood's block, with about a third of the circuit passing through a residential neighborhood. The plan was to conclude the Jericho event the morning of Saturday, September 15 with seven trips around the block, like the biblical armies of Joshua.
Claiming that our Jericho March was forbidden by a city ordinance against picketing private residences, the city's lawyers asked Federal Judge Virginia Kendall to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against our group. The judge refused, explaining that the city was essentially asking her for permission to enforce their own law, which is not the role of a federal judge.
Attorney Jason Craddock then petitioned the judge for a TRO to prevent the city from arresting pro-lifers during the march, and I took the witness stand to testify about this creative exercise of our constitutional right to pray and protest. The judge also refused this petition, saying that the city's concerns about the march through a residential neighborhood were reasonable.
This left us at an impasse, and both parties met in a conference room to work out a deal. The city was reluctant to arrest people for praying, while we didn't want to expose our volunteers to such an ordeal. In the end, we agreed to march each prayer "battalion" around the block only once.
In the end, this compromise worked dramatically in our favor. A thousand pro-lifers came out that morning for the finale and began marching around the block in battalions of 100, each led by a lieutenant bearing a red cross pendant sewn by my mother Ann and assembled by my sons Nate and Sam. The "only once around the block" rule ensured that when the press conference took place at 10 o'clock, a thousand pro-lifers were all gathered together in the vacant lot across from the Planned Parenthood building.
The effect was stunning. A long bank of television cameras was thronged by a ring of triumphant pro-lifers as representatives of the Protestant and Catholic clergy spoke out against Planned Parenthood and in favor of the Gospel of Life. Special guest Johnny Hunter, from the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN) brought a group of black pastors and deacons to the event, and spoke about Christ's command to help the "least of His brothers", the unborn child.
In plotting to foil us, Planned Parenthood and the City of Aurora served only to make the Jericho March Finale a tremendous success. The clergy statement was published the next morning in the Aurora Beacon News and Naperville Sun accompanied by front page stories on the march and press conference. You couldn't pay for that kind of exposure.
The whirlwind continued the next week when Planned Parenthood sued the City of Aurora in an emergency hearing in federal court, Monday, September 17—just one day before their planned opening. I went into Chicago for the hearing at the Dirksen Federal Building, during which Planned Parenthood tried to convince Federal Judge Charles Norgle to immediately order the City of Aurora to issue an "occupancy permit", the final permit they needed to open the next day.
Eric Scheidler thanks God for keeping Planned Parenthood shut on the eve of their intended opening date, Sept. 18 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
Attorneys for Aurora argued that it was their right, as a municipality, to conduct a thorough investigation into the questions raised about Planned Parenthood's permitting process. I had to wonder how much the widespread media coverage of our Jericho March played into the City's decision to stand their ground against Planned Parenthood.
The Judge set a hearing date of September 20 to allow both the City and Planned Parenthood to make their arguments more thoroughly. His refusal to order the city to immediately issue an occupancy permit meant that Planned Parenthood would not open yet. This was a tremendous victory, and after sharing my joy with the throng of reporters in the press corral, I raced back to Aurora to share the news.
That evening, several hundred faithful pro-lifers answered a last-minute e-mail invitation and came out for an impromptu gathering at the Planned Parenthood site. Viewers across Chicagoland saw our peaceful prayers of thanksgiving to God for keeping Planned Parenthood shut—a powerful sign of what God can do when we trust in Him.
During our celebration, I announced the decision I reached with Vigil captains Roger and Elizabeth Earl that the Vigil should go on past the 40-day mark. We would continue the round-the-clock Vigil until a final decision had been made about Planned Parenthood's fate.
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