Naperville wants to limit where abortion clinics could be located
Some Naperville city councilmen are calling for new restrictions on where abortion clinics are allowed, though none are currently seeking permission to open in the city.
The debate was sparked this week when city staff members asked to consolidate two terms in their zoning regulations - medical or dental clinics and medical or dental offices. The terms already are used interchangeably.
Typically such language clean up is a fairly innocuous matter, but Councilman Richard Furstenau said he feared the changes actually would end up allowing abortion clinics to operate where they previously weren't permitted.
Staff members repeatedly tried to assure Furstenau and others it was merely tweaking language in the regulation.
"There is no expansion of any rights under this," said Marcie Schatz, director of transportation, engineering and development. "The rules don't change."
But some councilmen said they were appalled to learn where abortion clinics already are allowed as medical offices.
"I can't believe we allow that to be a permitted use in our downtown core, our community shopping centers, our neighborhood convenience shopping centers," Councilman Paul Hinterlong said.
No such clinics currently are seeking permission to open in Naperville.
There already is a Planned Parenthood facility on the far east side of Aurora that offers abortion services and has sparked a great deal of controversy in that community.
"If there's anything I can do to keep an abortion clinic from opening in Naperville I'm going to do it," Councilman Robert Fieseler said.
Other councilmen felt the discussion to clarify the language in the ordinance had strayed far off topic.
"When you hear clinic you hear abortion because it's something you hear together," said Councilman Judy Brodhead, an English professor. "That's not what's coming up here and I think what people are throwing out is a kind of fear mongering and a big mistake."
After a half-hour discussion, councilmen passed the cleanup language. They returned to the topic at the end of the meeting when Furstenau made a motion to have staff study possible restrictions on clinics, but his move fell one vote short.
Furstenau, Fieseler, Hinterlong and Kenn Miller voted in favor of studying the matter further while Brodhead, Grant Wehrli, Doug Krause and Jim Boyajian voted no.
"It's my understanding Roe v. Wade is the law of the land," Wehrli said during the discussion.
Mayor George Pradel was absent. Furstenau suggested he may broach the subject again when Pradel returns.