Partial victory for Planned Parenthood

A Kane County judge dismissed two counts of a defamation lawsuit against Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, but said she will allow the plaintiffs to add four new allegations in an amended suit.

Judith M. Brawka's ruling was a partial win for Planned Parenthood, which sought and received protection from the first two accusations of defamation under the Citizens Participation Act -- a law designed to protect members of the public who speak out about government issues.

But whether the judge draws the same conclusions about the four additional counts remains to be seen.

"We believe the additional claims are no different from the last two," Planned Parenthood attorney Leah Bruno said Tuesday. "What seems clear is, (the judge) applied the statute as it was written, which is what we hoped she would do from the beginning."

Chicago's Pro-Life Action League sued Planned Parenthood in October after a bitter fight over the opening of an Aurora clinic where abortions now are performed. The civil suit was in response to a newspaper ad and a letter to Aurora's mayor and city council, both of which inaccurately and maliciously portrayed the league as "violent lawbreakers", said Aurora resident Eric Scheidler, who is a member of the anti-abortion group and a plaintiff in the case.

Scheidler said "all elected officials should be terrified" by the judge's decision.

"Planned Parenthood is being granted a license to lie," he said. As a result, "public discourse will inevitably become a cesspool of defamation and lies under the cover of a law aimed at protecting grass roots protests from big special interest groups like Planned Parenthood."

In her 9-page ruling, Brawka noted that the matter of the clinic's opening was still pending before Aurora city officials when Planned Parenthood published information about the league, and the organization clearly was petitioning for an outcome in its favor, as required under the act.

Scheidler said the amended lawsuit would contain four new allegations related to several press releases and publications by Planned Parenthood, including at least one in the Daily Herald. He said those publications "seem to have no government appeal at all."

The case is scheduled to continue Oct. 1.