City Council committee creates quiet zone around West Loop abortion clinic

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file photo

Women would no longer be forced to endure intimidation and abuse from bullhorn-bearing protesters on their way into a West Loop abortion clinic under an anti-noise crackdown advanced Monday by a City Council committee.

At the behest of Planned Parenthood and local Ald. Bill Conway (34th), the Committee on Public Safety agreed to establish a “quiet zone” around the abortion clinic operated by Family Planning Associates at 659 W. Washington Blvd.

Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) and Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) voted against the ordinance. They both questioned how it would be enforced, particularly without specific decibel levels.

Conway moved to ban bullhorns, speakers and other amplification devices from streets surrounding the clinic after witnessing anti-abortion protesters become “increasingly aggressive” in trying to “harass” women and stop them from entering the clinic every Saturday morning.

Their tactics, he said, included yelling, chanting, rushing toward patients to hand them anti-abortion literature and even blocking their path to the clinic doorway.

“Last July 22nd, I pulled up to the clinic to find 100-plus anti-choice protesters actively running towards patients as they got out of their cars while a small group of 10 escorts was holding them back. And I eventually joined that group, that was understandably overwhelmed,” Conway told his colleagues.

“The following week, they came back and actually brought an armed guard with them that was designed to intimidate the patients.”

Police patrols were stepped up, and more signs were added warning of penalties for violating Chicago’s “bubble ordinance,” which already outlaws harassment of patients around medical facilities. Those measures “helped a bit,” but not enough, Conway said.

“What the protesters have started to do is, they bring like an amplifier and they’ll put it against the building or right next to the building and then, they’ll start blaring. I’ve been inside while this is going on and … you can literally feel the building shake because of this amplified intimidation,” he said.   

“It’s so loud that the staff at the clinic’s intake desk can barely hear what patients are saying to them. It disrupts the health care that’s going on inside the building and also the lives of the residents around the facility. And that’s why I’m asking this committee … to implement a noise-sensitive zone” similar to the one created in 2019 around Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Allison Cowett, medical director at Family Planning Associates, asked committee members to “try to imagine doing your job with a rally, a concert or a block party happening eight feet” away from their office wall. Then try to imagine being a senior doctor trying to convey “critical information” to a patient while the overpowering sound outside makes it impossible to focus “or even to hear them at all.”

“This is the situation at our clinic where demonstrators set up a stage outside our building and use megaphones, microphones and speakers to amplify speeches, music and chants. Just this past Saturday, 300 demonstrators came to our building — all of them loudly voicing their opinions,” Cowett said.

Cowett said she’s not trying to silence anti-abortion demonstrators who adhere to the 2009 Bubble Zone ordinance, but “excessive noise” simply cannot be tolerated.

“It impedes the peace of mind of our patients entering the clinic and waiting for their appointments in our reception area. It interferes with communication between patients and their providers. It impinges on the focus of staffers doing medical procedures and administrative task. We simply cannot hear each other speak inside the medical facility,” she said.

Benita Ulisano, a patient escort, founded the “Clinic Vest Project” to shield patients from intimidation.

She described to committee members sound so loud she couldn’t hear what patients are saying as she tries to “get them out of the car to direct them to the door.”

“There’s also a danger factor here. I can’t tell my people there is a rogue anti [abortion protester] with a gun. And we’ve had these people show up at our clinic. They can’t hear me,” Ulisano said.

“These things that they shout are not about love and life. They’re about hurting patients’ feelings, trying to influence their decision with hateful speech.” 

Kathleen Stanczykiewicz, director of government relations for Planned Parenthood, said the quiet zone is needed. The number of abortions has surged in Chicago since the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, leading other states to impose more restrictions.

“My heart has ached as I have escorted women crying because of the noisy abuse from screaming protesters,” she said.

Stiffer fines for assaulting city employees

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Committee on Public Safety agreed to impose stiff fines against anyone who attempts to assault a city employee engaged in enforcement activity.

The vote on an ordinance championed by committee chairman Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) came after parking enforcement aide Ashley Campbell described having a drink thrown at her while ticketing a car on Belmont Avenue in Lakeview.