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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
As Sidewalk Counselors and Prayer Warriors gathered on Saturday, February 13, 2010 to pray outside of Planned Parenthood at 1200 N. LaSalle in Chicago, they were subjected to yet another interpretation of the Bubble Zone law.
This weekend saw the return of Officer Hagen. This is the officer who, on January 9, inaccurately told us we could not picket within 150 feet of the clinic or stand within 8 feet of the door but, upon reading the ordinance, magnanimously granted us permission to pray.
This week she told our sidewalk counselors they “can not come within ten feet of the doorway and try to hand—that’s panhandling.”
Ten feet? Panhandling? What?
To clarify that we were still talking about the Bubble, I told the officer that the Bubble [PDF] is only eight feet. She told me that the difference was insignificant. Holding her hands about 10 inches apart, she said “eight feet, ten feet, it’s this much.”
Maybe she meant two baby feet, because that’s not two standard feet with 12 inches in each!
The charge of panhandling strikes me as particularly amusing. “Panhandling” is asking for something, or begging. Offering literature is the exact opposite! It’s giving something!
Moreover, if the Bubble Zone ordinance was supposed to solve all of Planned Parenthood’s problems, why does this officer need to bring in extra, inapplicable, laws to get us to go away? What is the point of the Bubble after all?
Amusingly, now the police are taping me, taping them. The second officer to arrive on the scene went back to her car to get her video camera, then told me, “We all get cameras.” Later she walked up to me and took my photo. If she brings the picture back next week, I’ll autograph it for her.
Aid For Women ad right outside Planned Parenthood
As you can see in the video, someone had placed two signs outside the clinic on Saturday. Although last time Hagen was there, we were told we couldn’t let the signs even touch the sidewalk, this time she paid no notice to signs which were unmanned and leaning against a street sign.
One pro-life victory from this week, though, is the new billboard put up by Aid For Women. It’s on the newsstand near Planned Parenthood’s doorway and offers women real assistance. I know these ads are expensive, and I’m sure Aid For Women would appreciate a donation to support this project, if you are able.
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I was directed to contact you about my question. My 38 year old son, Craig, was taken off life support without his wife’s approval. He was brought to the hospital from the county jail after his heart had stopped. He regained a pulse en route and continued to have regular heart rhythm during his entire hospital course. He was admitted on Saturday, April 11, 2009. We could not get information about his condition because we were told that all questions had to be answered by the sheriff’s deputies. He was on his fifth day in jail when the incident occurred. Eight deputies struggled with him as they claimed they were extracting him from his cell to move him to a safety cell. No one called us from the jail. However, a woman who had worked with Craig called his wife, Rachel, to tell her that Craig had died. Approximately 30 people went to the emergency room shortly after we knew he was brought there. That evening, Rachel and I were given 10 minutes and would not be permitted to visit him again unless his condition became worse. He was jerking and his eyes seem to be trying to open. We told him we loved him and recited scripture to him. On late Monday morning our family had not been informed but did by chance go to the hospital so that Craig’s six daughters could see their dad. The district attorney had granted us permission to allow the little girls to visit him. Before that, we could not visit him because he was in sheriff’s custody. The DA also informed us that all charges against Craig had been dismissed at 8:30 that same morning. Craig had been suffering from mental illness that began just two and a half months prior to the incident. He was extremely depressed after losing his job as a custodial deputy. In late January, 2009, his behavior became alarming and after spending six days in the behavioral center, he was released. Rachel had a restraint order issued against him. He violated the order by contacting Rachel through a text message. Rachel and my family wanted him arrested because we thought he could get help and did not want him to get hurt by people who were becoming annoyed with his excessive talking about the return of Jesus and Judgment Day. On Monday around noon, we arrived at the hospital with the girls and Rachel was told that Craig had been declared brain dead by two doctors earlier that morning. Our family had until 6:30 pm to visit with him because they were going to turn off the ventilator. No hospital staff spoke to us about Craig’s condition. Rachel asked for another day for the sake of her and the girls and for her sisters to arrive from Ohio but was denied. She was told that they were going to need the ventilator for another patient due to arrive from another hospital. A family advocate and personal friend asked if another ventilator was available in the hospital and was told no. Although he was pronounced brain dead at 11:20 am, at 6:30 pm a nurse came into the room and turned off the machine. Did the hospital have exclusive rights to make the sole decision of turning off the machine? Ironically, Craig’s heart continued to beat for twenty minutes.
Posted February 18, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Marilyn:
Unfortunately, I do not know what legal rights you or the hospital had in this situation. We work with attorneys at the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center, who handle our legal efforts: http://www.thomasmoresociety.org/
I have found that, even in cases where the wrong thing may have been done, the law does not really give you a proper recourse to take. Or even when you may be able to take action against those who wronged you, doing so will take years and cost so much money as to make it prohibitively burdensome to pursue. Our legal system is not what one might wish it was.
I am so sorry about the loss of your son. I will pray for comfort for you and your family and for the peaceful repose of his soul.
-Corrina
Posted February 19, 2010 at 10:25 am
[...] Pro-Life Action League reports some interactions between the Chicago PD and pro-lifers over the new Bubble Zone law. One officer, who is clearly unaware of the law, even tries to scare pro-lifers by telling them they could be arrested for “panhandling”: [...]
Posted February 19, 2010 at 3:37 pm
They, klanned parrenthood, quite often quote laws they know nothing about. Here klanned parenthood tried using CA P.C. 602 without reseaching the law. It’s criminal trespassing. In Calif. you can go on private property with signs (free speach) even if it is posted “No Trespassing”. PP forgot to post “No Trespassing” signs on their property; thus, making the law to have no effect. The people at PP must not have known how to do a search on the internet for the laws they try to twist around. Took me all of three minutes, doing a search on Yahoo, to find out about P.C. 602. Does the Chicago Police have computers and know how to use them? What I really don’t understand is why the Police waste so much time on trivial stuff in a city with such high crime rate. Have the taxpayers there complained to the City Council yet?
Posted February 26, 2010 at 9:07 am
Corrina,
Regarding the Aid for Women sign, my husband and I noticed the other day that the bus stand is no longer there. We couldn’t believe it! Well, maybe we should not have been that surprised. Do you know what happened to it? Did Planned Parenthood run to Ald. Daley and ask that it be removed? So much for “choice” and free speech.
Posted February 26, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Lindsey:
When we got to the clinic to pray the Saturday after I wrote this post, we were shocked to see the sign was gone. An Aid for Women volunteer was there, and she immediately called the woman who had gotten the ad placed to see if she knew it had disappeared. She left a voicemail, so I don’t know whether she had known or not. I had a cold so I didn’t go out this weekend. I’ll let you know if I hear anything further.
Quite convenient timing, though, isn’t it? After years of having this abandoned news stand in our way, we put up a pro-life sign, and not it’s gone. Frankly, I’m glad to have the extra space. I just hope Aid for Women gets their money back!
In Christ, Corrina
Posted March 1, 2010 at 10:36 am
[...] many weeks ago I wrote about the new sign which had been placed on the newsstand outside the Planned Parenthood clinic at [...]
Posted March 9, 2010 at 9:31 am
[...] I am blessed with the opportunity to picket Planned Parenthood every Saturday morning (not that the New York Times would write a story about it), picketing PP’s president is a [...]
Posted May 6, 2010 at 1:04 pm
[...] Hagen is the one who thinks that distributing leaflets is panhandling, that the eight foot bubble might as well be ten feet, that the bubble ordinance says 150 feet [...]
Posted June 23, 2010 at 11:54 am
[...] gotten the Chicago City Council to enact a Bubble Zone around the abortion clinics, but time and time again they’ve found that they didn’t get the law they [...]
Posted June 28, 2010 at 8:14 pm
[...] the Planned Parenthood staff and the police who arrive are just wrong (see my previous blog posts here and here). Once we get the police to read the text of the ordinance, they pretty much always [...]
Posted August 6, 2010 at 1:36 pm
[...] we’re allowed to hold signs wherever we want, other times we’re told the signs can’t even touch the [...]
Posted August 20, 2010 at 4:09 pm
[...] either don’t understand or choose to misrepresent. Many of the Chicago Police officers also do not understand the ordinance either. And many pro-lifers are confused about how the bubble zone impacts sidewalk [...]
Posted August 30, 2010 at 9:27 am