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It’s a health clinic not a meth lab

SassyWho

How is this even tolerable in our society? In Aurora Illinois a new Planned Parenthood clinic almost completed construction before coming to the attention of those who would like to sabotage it:

Growth in the counties Aurora straddles — DuPage, Will, Kendall and Kane — has created an intense need for more comprehensive and affordable women’s health care. And while the majority of patients come to Planned Parenthood for birth control, testing for gynecological cancers or screening for sexually transmitted diseases, it is the abortions that have made this a stealth venture almost 35 years after Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Correct me if I am wrong, but birth control is legal is it not? Clandestine abortions may have ended with Roe V. Wade but circumstances such as this serve as a reminder how time has not made discretion any less of a necessity.

Would this be acceptable if places of worship were treated with the same interference? Would contractors be willing to cancel their contracts with organizations building a cultural center that hate groups targeted? What about a HIV clinic? How about a group home for individuals with disabilities? It is a civil rights issue when the ability to exercise your constitutional right is inhibited by religious zealots who oppose reproductive freedom. I would rather hear our political leaders support less “safe, legal, and rare” and focus more on “legal and accessible”, we deserve it.

17 thoughts on It’s a health clinic not a meth lab

  1. Frankly, I’m thrilled that they’re putting a PP there. I grew up in that neighborhood and it is so terribly conservative that Dubya campaigned there in 2000. It’s a very affluent area, and the only way for kids out there to get birth control was to drive into the gang-ridden downtown area, which most of us had never ever been to before (very snooty and classist…think SUV/soccer mom heaven. I’m glad I moved). I’m amazed we had so few pregnancies.

    So this is wonderful, and I’m thrilled.

  2. Like Ashley, I lived for some time in that area. I came into my feminist consciousness going to church with the only people in town who provided abortions – that clinic has closed. I’m not sure of the details of the clinic’s closing, but I know it was a private practice and the doctor was probably fairly close to retirement 10 years ago.

    Aurora is one of the largest cities in Illinois — it’s growing rapidly, and the far eastern part of the city where this Planned Parenthood is going is the fastest growing part. In some ways, Aurora has always struck me as such an odd place. It’s so close to Chicago, yet it’s so very far away politically.

  3. Check that last comment – the article says that the previous clinic closed because the doctor retired.

    As I recall, ten years ago, that clinic faced constant protests.

  4. How about a group home for individuals with disabilities?

    Unfortunately, it’s very, very common for suburbs to refuse space for group homes for the disabled. Because, you know, if you get too close to a paraplegic or a person with Down’s Syndrome, you’ll catch it. :-p

  5. Mnemosyne beat me to it…. I work for agencies that help people with developmental disabilities and you would be amazed at the amount of resistance we got when we tried to open a new home, and the hoops we had to jump through to do so. It’s ridiculous the amount of resistance that comes from people exercising their basic human rights, whether it’s the right to live free from institutions or the right to basic reproductive rights.

  6. I also grew up in that area, and this strikes me also of class. Aurora is one of the larger minority areas in the counties (I worked at a homeless shelter in Aurora), where a lot of people who serve the Naperville area live — as well as some very upple-middle class.

    As for the group home, I can’t recall any in the area, I know there must be one (a friend works at one) but the area prides themselves on how quickly they started inclusion at levels not seen before.

    But I’m glad to see one is going in. I think I have a donation to make. This area is very conservative — even if the kids aren’t ( I ta’ed in a local high school).

  7. To put this in more perspective of class: The day of the immigration rallys a couple of years ago, the headline in the local paper, The Naperville Sun was, “The Day The Lawn Wasn’t Mowed”.

  8. I noticed from the news article that the clinic in Texas was delayed because the prime contractor threatened to blacklist the subcontractors — wouldn’t that come under scrunity for extortion?

    or at least restraint of trade?

  9. Emily, is the clinic VNA? If so, that’s upsetting, as that was the only place to get birth control in the area (that we knew of, anyways). Plus, I was just about the only person I knew who had ever been to THAT side of Aurora.

  10. Mnemosyne and Julie, I had no idea people opposed homes for those with disabilities. I mean, I can somewhat understand(though not condone) opposition to half-way houses, but jeez… disabilities? The neighborhood that I live in has at least 15 of these homes in addition to a Overstock store(think clothes/luggage) that they are employed at. The homes are well taken care, maintained and a great addition to our community.

  11. (Delurking in a fit of reproductive rights joy…) This is excellent news. Right now, the only abortion providers in Chicagoland are in Chicago proper or in the upper-class suburbs; to the best of my knowledge, all of the Planned Parenthood clinics are “Express” clinics, with limited hours and services. There used to be an abortion clinic in Elgin, but that one also closed, after a crisis pregnancy center moved in next door.

    The angst about this doesn’t surprise me – Henry Hyde came out of DuPage County. The class angle sounds about right, too; the whole area is seeing more and more residents that are working class, or black or Latino, and many of the citizens are unhappy enough about it to be openly racist about it (nuri’s absolutely right about that headline).

  12. Its strange, though, they would build the new center so close to their Naperville clinic- which is a smaller clinic that doesn’t perform abortions. I am all for more clinics, and a suburban abortion clinic, but it might have been better if the suburban clinic were slightly more spread out.

  13. The group intends to target not only the clinic, said Scheidler, but customers of nearby businesses as well.

    This is what really, REALLY gets me. It’s not just attacking the clinic directly. It’s about attacking the entire community until it bows to the wishes of a bunch of zealots.

    Surely, isn’t there someone you can do to stop someone driving away your business on purpose?

  15. I’m sure that part of the secrecy was also related to the problems with the north side (Chicago) clinic they had years back. PP had been in a small building at Clark & Division for a while. They decided to build a new, bigger clinic a few blocks away from that clinic and got a LOT of “not in my neighborhood” crap. You know, from the people who apparently hadn’t noticed that a PP clinic had already been there for years.

  16. You would be shocked at the amount of misinformation and prejudice out there SassyWho- People are convinced that the very presence of a home for people with disabilities will destroy their community but are usually completely unaware of already existing homes. It’s very sad really.

  17. I live in DuPage County, am in a low income household, and I have no health insurance. It is difficult to get to the PP locations in the city for even a check up. I am thrilled to hear of a PP in Aurora. For low income women, PP is really the only place where they can receive any type of health care at a fair rate.

    It is disgusting that there is the need to be so secretive about the location, but knowing the communities out here – I am not surprised.

    FYI – the Naperville clinic doesn’t even do well woman exams. It is merely a location to receive pregnancy tests and birth control. That said, it would be nice to see PP locations in more of the surrounding counties.

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