DOWNTOWN — An ordinance establishing a noise-sensitive zone around a Downtown woman’s clinic has been delayed again, this time by a Far Northwest Side alderperson who previously expressed concerns over its constitutionality.
Ald. Bill Conway (34th) introduced the ordinance last year after neighbors and workers at Family Planning Associates, 615 W. Washington Blvd., said anti-abortion protesters were harassing patients and staff while loudly demonstrating outside the building.
The ordinance seeks to make it illegal to use amplified sound devices such as loudspeakers, bullhorns and musical instruments along designated streets near the clinic. Two quiet zones already exist surrounding Northwestern Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Streeterville.
The ordinance stalled in November. The city’s top attorney asked Conway to slow down on the measure so the Law Department could ensure its implementation would not violate First Amendment rights.
The updated proposal includes “explicit findings” from the police department and the Chicago Department of Public Health in support of the ordinance. It also includes a tweak to the streets included in the first version of Conway’s ordinance.
The revised ordinance passed out of the city’s Committee on Public Safety earlier this month‚ despite concerns at the time by Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th) that it violated the First Amendment.
On Wednesday, Sposato deferred and published the measure, effectively delaying a vote until at least the next City Council meeting.
Sposato told Block Club after the meeting that he went back and forth about the move to block the ordinance, saying he opposes abortion and he has concerns about the legality of the measure.
“I want to give my colleagues an opportunity to go out there at these abortion clinics to see what’s going on. I dispute that’s what’s going on here…Bill’s my good friend I don’t have a reason not to believe him, but I’ve been to these type of events before and are people peacefully praying and being civil and happy,” Sposato said.
Sposato said he plans to visit the clinic on Saturday to observe the protests and will be “the first person to scold” the protestors if he sees them acting as Conway has described.
Conway was visibly frustrated by the maneuver as he explained the collaboration between the city’s law department and police department on the ordinance.
“Do not worry. This delay will not stand, and this will pass,” Conway said.
Conway thanked the clinic workers and representatives from Planned Parenthood who came to City Council Wednesday in support of the quiet zone ordinance — and who received a standing ovation from both alderpeople and audience members.
“Attempts to further delay this ordinance, after it has been thoroughly vetted by Law, CPD, and Health, only further enables the increased harassment and intimidation of women seeking health care at Family Planning Associates,” Conway said in a statement after the vote.
Conway added that he didn’t understand what Sposato had gained from delaying the final vote until next month’s meeting.
“As someone who has been a lawyer for 18 years and worked with the Law Department and the crafting of this ordinance, I am confident in its constitutionality and [it] is not a First Amendment violation,” Conway told Block Club.
The ordinance does not prevent protesters or bystanders from being on the streets surrounding the clinic. As a content-neutral policy, it prevents people from using amplified sound devices while on those streets.
Bystanders and protesters must also follow the city’s bubble ordinance, which states it is illegal to be within 8 feet of someone who is within a 50-foot radius from the entrance of a medical facility in order to pass out unwanted literature, signs or engage in oral protest, education or counseling.
Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed support for Conway’s efforts, saying he believed women seeking services in Chicago should be protected from harassment.
“We cannot have…individuals that block people’s access to health care. I mean… it’s gotten out of control. And so I appreciate the work of the advocates. Appreciate the leadership that’s being expressed right now…we have to make sure that people have access to medical care that can’t be threatened….we’re not gonna stand for it, not in Chicago,” Johnson said.
Since last summer, Family Planning Associates has regularly seen as many as 20 anti-abortion protesters every Saturday morning during the warmer months, clinic officials said. In July, the clinic had more than five times that number, with several of them using a loudspeaker and rushing at patients to forcibly hand out religious pamphlets.
Officials at the clinic have said numerous times that the loudspeakers can be heard inside the facility, making it hard to hear and talk to patients. At times, the noise makes the surrounding windows vibrate, officials said.
“This is the situation at our clinic where demonstrators use megaphones, microphones and speakers to amplify their speeches, their music and their chanting. Sometimes as many as 200 demonstrators at a time immediately outside our building,” Dr. Allison Cowett with Family Planning and Associates said at a press conference Wednesday morning.
With summer settling in, protests are expected to ramp up at Family Planning Associates. Earlier this month, Conway was seen in a video circulated on social media arguing with protesters over violations of the city’s bubble ordinance.
Protesters in the video said they were “preaching the gospel.”
“Perhaps I could have handled this in a better way, but after I saw the running of women multiple times, blaring amplifiers in their faces at least three or four times, I frankly stood up for the patients until the police arrived. … I don’t apologize for that,” Conway previously said.
Protests outside the clinic have been led by Juan Riesco of Metro Praise International Church in Belmont Cragin.
Riesco, the controversial owner of the now-closed Nini’s Deli, has faced backlash over his commentary and preaching. The restaurant first closed in 2020 after protesters rallied against Riesco’s homophobic comments and street sermons. Nini’s Deli closed permanently last year following widespread condemnation.
In July, Metro Praise brought scores of protesters to the clinic, using bullhorns to chant. On one occasion, more than 60 protesters circled the clinic as they chanted outside the windows.
On another occasion, the congregation brought a mobile church bus and parked it across the street from the clinic, blocking the bike lane as members played worship songs.
Joe Wyrostek, pastor for Metro Praise International, previously said he believes his group hasn’t violated the city’s bubble ordinance. He has continued to defend members of his congregation, saying they did not violate the ordinance before the confrontation with Conway.
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