Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society won a great pro-life victory in court
On Friday, May 21, Judge Neal Cerne delivered his judgment on motions to dismiss our zoning lawsuit against Planned Parenthood and the city of Aurora, Illinois. Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society of Chicago was on hand along with myself, Pro-Life Action League executive director Eric Scheidler and a number of Aurora pro-lifers. It was a huge pro-life victory as Judge Cerne denied motions from the city and Planned Parenthood that three of our five counts against them be dismissed!
The suit, filed in February of 2008, alleged that Planned Parenthood violated the city’s zoning codes in a number of aspects of the construction of their facility and they made concerted efforts to hide their identity in the building process so that the citizens of Aurora could have no say in whether Planned Parenthood became a major part of their community.
Once the facility was completed, the city decided to play dumb, insisting that since the permits had already been issued, there was nothing they could do to change the determination.
Finally, after changes in venue, changes of judges and exhausting every other possible remedy, Judge Cerne has ruled that three of the five counts in our lawsuit need to be heard in a proper trial of some kind.
It remains unclear what the next step will be. Judge Cerne could send the three counts back to the Aurora Zoning Board of Appeals who heard this case back in 2008 but decided they didn’t have jurisdiction to do anything about it, which seems a likely option. But he could decide to pursue the matter a different way, so please pray that Judge Cerne chooses the option that will bring the case most quickly to the justice we seek.
We here at the League will keep you up to date as the case develops.
