An abortion clinic operating in a residential neighborhood in Illinois lost its legal fight with neighbors after a state court reversed the facility’s zoning approval.
The Illinois Appellate Court for the 4th District ruled that a Rockford County zoning officer erred when he let Dr. Dennis Christensen open an abortion clinic under a special-use permit in a suburb zoned for single-family residences.
The court sent the case back to the Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals, finding in its April 10 decision that the board “committed a mistake” in affirming the permit and denying standing to neighbors fighting the decision.
“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,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation, in a statement.
The society challenged the 2022 zoning approval on behalf of the Rockford Family Initiative and Shawn and Lisa Rylatt, who live near the Rockford Family Planning Clinic owned by Dr. Christensen.
“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,” Mr. Breen said.
Angela Hammer, Rockford interim legal director, said the clinic may reapply for a special-use permit and continue to operate pending a decision on its application.
“The result is that the business owner will now have the opportunity to request a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing consistent with the appellate court’s opinion,” Ms. Hammer told the Rockford Register Star. “The clinic can remain open pending the outcome of the public hearing.”
Dr. Christensen, a mostly retired obstetrician-gynecologist who lives in Wisconsin, bought the home and sought to renew his Illinois medical license shortly after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
He said he wanted to offer surgical abortions and abortion pills to women from Wisconsin, which was then locked in a legal battle over an 1849 law banning most abortions, by opening a practice in Rockford near the Illinois-Wisconsin border.
“The clinics in Illinois are inundated now,” Dr. Christensen told The Associated Press in a July 2022 article. “Sometimes they can’t get an appointment for two weeks, and for some of the patients, that two weeks is the difference between being able to have a medical abortion versus the surgical procedure.”
The zoning officer’s approval was based on the property’s previous use by a chiropractor who operated a home business for 40 years on a 1981 special-use permit, but the permit expired in 1982 and there is “no physical copy” of the document, according to the court.
The officer concluded that the plan to open an abortion clinic was consistent with the home’s prior use, but the court disagreed, describing the situations as “apples and oranges.”
While the chiropractor lived at the house, Dr. Christensen did not. The only occupant of the property was the clinic director, whom the court described as a “tenant-employee with no assurance of permanency, living there under a one-year lease.”
After opening in January 2023, the clinic quickly became a magnet for pro-life protesters. Mr. Rylatt testified that the clinic disrupted the neighborhood with increased traffic and noise.
The Washington Times has reached out to the clinic for comment.
The Rockford Family Initiative cheered the ruling, calling it “another proof that when people respond to the call of grace, and stand up for what [is] good, true and beautiful, miracles happen!”
