Thomas More Society attorneys again appealed the long-running case against Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois. The appeal, filed February 15, 2017, in the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, challenges Circuit Court Judge Paul Fullerton’s dismissal of a lawsuit over Planned Parenthood’s manipulation of zoning laws to construct an abortion clinic in Aurora, Illinois. The lawsuit, in process since the 2008 filing on behalf of residents who live near the Aurora Planned Parenthood facility and an unincorporated association of Fox Valley Families, charges that the nation’s largest abortion provider misled and lied to Aurora zoning and building officials to get permission to build its mega-abortion clinic.

The appeal filed in this case, Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood et al v. Planned Parenthood of Illinois et al, is the latest action in a case that Thomas More Society Special Counsel Peter Breen says illustrates Planned Parenthood’s “blatant disregard for and manipulation of Illinois law.” He added that the Aurora abortion facility was the product of deception and continues to operate illegally.

In 2006, under a shell company named Gemini Office Development, LLC, Planned Parenthood built a non-profit business at a site explicitly designated to accommodate for-profit corporations. To circumvent Aurora’s zoning laws, Planned Parenthood claimed to be paying property taxes in order to fulfill the “for-profit” zoning requirement. However, at the same time, Planned Parenthood also received $8 million in financing at Illinois taxpayer expense for its “non-profit activities.”

Records obtained from the DuPage County Supervisor of Assessments show that, just after proceedings were completed in the trial court, Planned Parenthood sought to have its property taxes reversed, on the basis that it had been operating the property for charitable purposes from its inception. After the circuit court approved Planned Parenthood’s zoning as a for-profit medical clinic, Planned Parenthood informed DuPage County and the Illinois Department of Revenue that its use was, and always had been, exclusively charitable, and that the organization was therefore entitled to a full property tax exemption.

View copies of the Thomas More Society’s Notice of Appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court Second Judicial District here and the Notice of Filing Notice of Appeal here, both filed on February 15, 2017.

Read Judge Fullerton’s Memorandum Opinion and Order issued January 17, 2017, from the Circuit Court for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, DuPage County, Illinois, here.