Rockford citizens protest proposed Bubble Zone

By Amanda Hudson, News Editor

Coming soon!

The Rockford 40 Days for Life campaign will run from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. from Feb. 17-March 28. Last year’s campaign brought people of many faiths from throughout the community to pray on the sidewalk surrounding the abortuary — the Northern Illinois Women’s Center located in the old Turner School at 1400 Broadway.

Go to www.40daysforlife.com/rockford/
to learn more.

ROCKFORD—Pro-lifers gathered at City Hall the evening of Feb. 1 to protest a proposed Bubble Zone law around Rockford’s abortuary.

Alderman Karen Elyea, (D-11) who represents the area in which the abortuary on Broadway is located, proposed the ordinance to the city council Jan. 25. City Attorney Jennifer Cacciapaglia drafted the ordinance which is similar to Chicago’s. The proposal creates an eight foot “buffer zone” between people unless there is consent.

Kevin Rilott and Abby Figi were each allowed three minutes for presentations against the proposal.

Rilott brought a Rockford Police Department record of a decade of complaints filed regarding the abortuary. There have been no complaints against sidewalk counselors from any clients of the facility. The one alleged incident of a person being struck by a car (in this case, a homeless man said to have been brushed by an abortuary employee’s car mirror last year) had been dismissed by the city attorney’s office as an incident where nothing happened.

Rilott also gave statistics of numbers of abortions at the facility, which have sharply decreased the past few years. “We believe this bubble zone (proposal) is an attempt to increase business,” he said. He also mentioned a number of offensive signs and loudspeaker-broadcast remarks on the part of the abortuary facility and asked city officials if they wanted to support such a business, briefly describing a sign posted to celebrate its 50,000th abortion.

Figi followed Rilott’s remarks with a plea aimed more to the heart.

“I hope you will consider that many women entering the abortion facility feel they do not have a choice,” she said. “They are pressured to have an abortion or feel they don’t have the resources to care for a baby. Many times we watch women weeping as they enter…”

During her presentation, Figi introduced Stephany and her daughter Adrianna to the council, having them stand briefly.

Stephany was 16 and pregnant in August 2008 when she approached sidewalk counselors instead of heading straight to the abortuary entrance.

Before the city council meeting, Rilott explained how they had spoken with Stephany for about 20 minutes. She kept saying her boyfriend and her parents wanted her to have an abortion, he said. “We just kept telling her of all the support available.”

Stephany remembers that the sidewalk counselors told her “that (Adrianna) will just light up my world … They were telling me stuff I wanted to hear. They were perfect.

“I became a better person (and) I think my life is better. I hang around much better people.”

Her father, Stephany says, changed completely when the baby was born. “His face just lit up,” she says, adding that he now buys his 11-month-old granddaughter Packer clothing.

Following the pro-life presentation, Tom Brejcha of the St. Thomas More Society met with the many men, women and youths who had come in opposition to the bubble zone proposal.

“Your presence is what matters,” Brejcha told them. “They (city council members) noticed you … nothing impresses (them) more than people who are paying attention.”

The Rockford Diocese released a statement after the proposal was announced saying it sees the recent proposal as “yet another attempt to silence the pro-life community.”

“The Bubble Zone ordinance clearly seeks to limit the freedom of speech and assembly as guaranteed by the constitution of the United States based on the religious and political views of individuals who differ from those of others in the City of Rockford.

“It is most grievous that our city seeks to eliminate any vestige of a moral compass for itself,” the statement said.

The city’s Codes and Regulations Committee will meet next week to decide whether or not to recommend that the proposal be sent to the City Council.