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December 11 report from City Hall

City of Aurora sealA couple of developments from the Aurora City Hall today:

1. Parental Notice Ordinance

Alderman Rick Lawrence appeared before the Government Operations Committee this afternoon to request that they postpone further discussion of the Parental Notification Ordinance until their February 26 meeting. More time is needed to craft an ordinance that will provide real protection for minor children and be enforceable under state law. This might be a good time to again clarify the distinction between the Parental Notification Ordinance with the Parental Notification Resolution which the Council passed two weeks ago. While the Resolution simply calls upon the state to take action to enforce the 1995 Parental Notification of Abortion Act, the Ordinance would require notification to parents of any medical procedure, regardless of any state law.

2. My reflections before the City Council

After seven visits to the City Council by Families Against Planned Parenthood, I thought it would be appropriate for me to offer some remarks as we turn our attention to the Zoning Board of Appeals hearings. Here are the remarks I offered to the Council:

Remarks to the Aurora City Council, December 11, 2007 This is the eighth meeting in a row at which I have addressed this council, and I almost feel as if we are old friends—and that when I write my book on composing three-minute speeches I should present each of you with an autographed copy. I’m sure you already know that I am Eric Scheidler, and some may even have memorized my address, but I will state for the record that I live at 839 Garfield Avenue in the 4th Ward with my wife April and our eight children. I am here today, first of all, to thank this Council for listening, these many weeks, to me and the Aurora citizens it has been my privilege to serve as a leader. I also want to commend you for passing the parental notification resolution at your last meeting. As the pro-life community turns our civic attention—for the time being—from the City Council to the Zoning Board of Appeals, I thought it might be fruitful to review our time before you. We spoke out against the deception perpetrated by Planned Parenthood in their permitting and applications process, and called for a full and independent investigation. We offered a “crash course” in abortion—its destruction of human life, its harm to women and families and the deleterious effect of abortion facilities on the nearby community. We responded to malicious lies by Planned Parenthood and their agents, when they accused our peaceful pro-life coalition of being violent and dangerous. We exposed numerous zoning violations by Planned Parenthood, most significantly their lack of a Special Use permit. We denounced Mayor Weisner’s issuance of an occupancy permit to Planned Parenthood in betrayal of his promise to conduct a complete and open investigation of the process. We highlighted serious flaws in the three reports relied upon by Mayor Weisner and Corporation Counsel Weingartz to justify their peremptory decision to issue the occupancy permit. We denounced violations of our First Amendment rights by law enforcement officers of this city. Finally, we begged protection for our minor daughters from medical providers, like Planned Parenthood, so unscrupulous as to perform abortions upon them without informing their parents. We shared our thoughts, our reasoned arguments, our many deeply personal experiences, our many strong passions. A few may have spoken too harshly, but none was anything but honest and sincere—and I think you know and appreciate that. It may be that in coming weeks you will see little of us here in the Council Chambers, but do not think we have forgotten you. We will keep a keen eye not only on the progress of the proposed parental notification ordinance, but also any effort to allocate city funds to Planned Parenthood. I would like to close by thanking you again for your service to this City, and by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. God bless you all.

Thanks to the pro-lifers who came out to City Hall this evening to help close this chapter in our ongoing campaign to get Planned Parenthood out of Aurora once and for all.

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