Posted on 06/06/2002 3:20:49 AM PDT by calvin sun
Abortion center loses ruling
The Upper Merion clinic must close after the zoning board said it is on too small of a site.
Inquirer Suburban Staff
|
|
UPPER MERION - An abortion center owned by a controversial doctor violates the zoning code, the township's Zoning Hearing Board decided last night.
The decision upholds an August cease-and-desist order that a township zoning officer served on American Women's Services, which operates in an office building from the King of Prussia malls and had been providing abortions since April 2001. The ruling came after 20 hours of hearings over six months.
"This was an extremely difficult decision for me personally to deliberate on," board chairman Edward McBride said before announcing the board's 3-0 decision.
About 50 antiabortion activists, many of whom had sat through hours of the late-night hearings, burst into 30 seconds of applause. They then formed a prayer circle outside the meeting hall.
When asked by an antiabortion activist whether the township will now close the center, Board of Supervisors chairman Dan Rooney, standing in the middle of the prayer circle, said: "Yes. That's my understanding." The group again applauded.
The center's lawyer, Julia Gabis, said she was disappointed with the decision and planned to appeal within 30 days to Montgomery County Court. She said the office would remain open.
"American Women's Services will take whatever action necessary to keep the office open, and we are hopeful that we will ultimately be successful," she said.
While Gabis would not elaborate much beyond a hurriedly written statement, she had said in the pastthat "the fact that abortions are being performed at the site is what is bringing this to the zoning board."
Beginning in October, seven hearings, triggered by an appeal of the cease-and-desist order, set out to resolve a seemingly simple question: Was American Women's Services, the site of regular antiabortion protests, a "medical clinic" or a "professional office"?
The township's zoning code does not define either term but does restrict "medical and dental [clinics] for treatment of humans" to sites on three or more acres.
The township argued that the Route 202 facility was a clinic situated on a site less than three acres, thereby violating zoning law.
Gabis argued that the facility is a "professional office" and the site's one-acre site satisfies the zoning code.
Pennsylvania allows abortions to be performed in private doctors' offices in addition to conventional abortion clinics.
The facility is owned by abortion doctor Steven Brigham, who is associated with several Mid-Atlantic abortion facilities.
Brigham lost his medical licenses in New York and Florida for botched abortions, and spent three weeks in early 2000 in a New York prison for failing to pay business taxes.
As a result, Brigham - who is licensed in New Jersey - has raised the ire of both abortion opponents and abortion-rights advocates, who are quick to recite his spotted record as a physician-businessman.
He did not comment last night.
Although the topic of abortion made for an emotionally charged departure from the routine zoning matters of deck extensions and sign dimensions, township officials had said the issue was zoning and not abortion.
"The fact that the medical treatment provided by [the facility] is abortion has no bearing on the board's decision," the zoning board said in its ruling.
"It really looks solid. What we need to pray for is a sustain on appeal," West Chester attorney James Owens told those in the prayer circle. Owens, alongside the township solicitor, argued against the facility's appeal on behalf of Upper Merion resident Veronica Biederstadt, one of the antiabortion protesters.
One down but how many more to go? The longest journey begins with the first step.
The township's zoning code does not define either term but does restrict "medical and dental [clinics] for treatment of humans" to sites on three or more acres.
The township argued that the Route 202 facility was a clinic situated on a site less than three acres, thereby violating zoning law.
Gabis argued that the facility is a "professional office" and the site's one-acre site satisfies the zoning code.
You have to be kidding me. This was not close to a difficult decision. Anyone in real estate, and especially someone on a planning and zoning board knows the difference between a medical office and a professional office. They are performing a medical procedure. They have no claim that its not a medical office.
Hip Hip Hooray and kudos for the pro-life folks in Upper Merion especially the pro-lifer who took this abortion mill to court.
How sad that local zoning laws take precedence over moral laws and every American's promise to a Right to Life!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.