Illinois Court Lets Abortion Business Open in Residential Neighborhood

On April 10, 2025, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District delivered a unanimous ruling holding that Rockford, Illinois officials and a lower court both erred in allowing an abortion facility to operate in a residential neighborhood as a “home business.” City officials had claimed they could allow an abortion facility next to homeowners under the auspices of a prior special use permit that was issued to allow a solo chiropractor to operate out of his home.

Thomas More Society attorneys brought suit for local homeowners against Rockford-area abortionist Dr. Dennis Christensen, his company, the City of Rockford, and the Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals, challenging the improper zoning approval of Christensen’s abortion business. The decision was issued following oral arguments before Illinois’ Fourth District Appellate Court, delivered by Thomas More Society attorney Joan Mannix on March 12, 2025.

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The Appellate Court’s decision upheld the Thomas More Society position that the location and operation of Christensen’s abortion facility violates numerous provisions of Rockford’s zoning ordinance.

In 2022, Christensen and his abortion business, Rockford Family Planning Center (RFPC), sought to convert a residential property—originally permitted to allow a homeowner to operate a home business—into an abortion facility. The use of the property, located in a single-family residential zone, was approved by Rockford’s zoning officer despite its clear inconsistency with the decades-old special use permit and city ordinances.

Thomas More Society’s Peter Breen represented Rockford-area residents and a local nonprofit, the Rockford Family Initiative, in challenging the decision before the Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals. Local attorney Vincent A. Tessitore, of Lindell & Tessitore P.C., in Naperville, provided substantial pro bono assistance to the residents, as well. Prior to the April 10 decision, the Board of Appeals and the trial court had upheld the zoning permission for Christensen’s abortion business and even rejected the right of residents’ right to challenge the City’s zoning decision, despite these residents suffering reduced property values from the new abortion facility.

The Appellate Court’s opinion highlighted numerous significant variances between the abortion business and the prior chiropractor’s home business, including that Christensen’s new business is not a “home business.”

Not only does Christensen not live in the facility, he is a resident of Wisconsin. The business also employs several non-resident staff, with a supposed tenant-employee arrangement that violates Rockford law and the terms of the old special use permit. In light of these and other facts, the Court found the Zoning Board’s approval of the “home business” abortion facility “clearly erroneous,” highlighting that the proposed for-profit facility far surpassed the scope of the previous chiropractic “home business” use and decades-old special use permit.

The Court also reversed the Board’s finding that plaintiffs Shawn and Lisa Rylatt lacked standing, recognizing they “sufficiently supported injuries in fact to [their] legally cognizable interests” including the facility’s impact on their property values and quiet enjoyment of their home.

Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation, reacted: “The Court’s ruling sends a crystal-clear message: zoning laws exist to protect our communities, and they must be enforced fairly and consistently, even when they impact the abortion industry. The Court has exposed the Rockford Zoning Board’s flawed reasoning and upheld the rule of law, ensuring that businesses, even abortion businesses, cannot ignore the laws and may not set up shop wherever they want, including in the middle of quiet family neighborhoods filled with young children.”

Read the Order, issued April 10, 2025, in Shawn Rylatt v. Dr. Dennis Christensen here. Read case background here.

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