One year later: Planned Parenthood in Aurora

Lexy LeDantec is 18 years old. A bright and articulate young woman, she's a student at the University of Miami, studying neurobiology. She is, in the words of her mom, Teri, not the stereotypical visitor to Planned Parenthood.

But Lexy LeDantec has been going to Planned Parenthood since her mother first took her there when she was 13 years old.

Teri LeDantec, a Naperville resident, believes passionately in the value of the services Planned Parenthood provides. She's been going since her college days, more than 30 years ago. And her daughter, who says she receives birth control and counseling, shares that passion.

"It's an environment where you won't get judged," she said. "You can sit with someone who is trained in any type of situation. I'm lucky to have a mother I can talk to about most things. But for people who don't, it's a place to get correct information, without bias or preaching."

For years, the LeDantecs have shuttled back and forth between Planned Parenthood's limited-service location in Naperville and the full-service facility in Chicago.

So they were both relieved and excited when, one year ago, one of the country's largest Planned Parenthood clinics opened in Aurora, not far from their home.

The clinic's opening was impossible to miss. It consumed the media for months.

Planned Parenthood initially received approval to build the 22,000-square-foot facility under a subsidiary name, Gemini Office Development. The true occupant of the building was not revealed until the summer of 2007, and controversy swirled over plans to perform abortions there.

In the months that led up to the issuance of an occupancy permit on Oct. 1, organized protests were held, and hundreds of people packed City Council chambers, arguing against Planned Parenthood's move to the city.

And its opening triggered a series of legal battles -- spearheaded by Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood -- which are still winding their way through the courts.

Through it all, Planned Parenthood officials maintained the demand for their services -- including pap smears, birth control options and pre-natal care -- was here. Kane County statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health back them up, showing an increase in gonorrhea, chlamydia and other sexually transmitted diseases between 1995 and 2005.

According to those same statistics, the number of teens giving birth in Kane County increased by 27 percent over the same period, and the number of abortions grew by more than 50 percent.

Planned Parenthood's facility was built to accommodate 25,000 patients a year. They didn't reach that number -- or even expect to -- but they are pleased with the amount of people who have come in, according to Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois.

Trombley refused to release statistics for the Aurora facility, saying they could be taken out of context. But he said the clinic draws patients from a 10-mile radius and has seen "significantly" more demand for preventative services than they anticipated -- roughly 30 percent higher, according to Trombley.

The demand for abortions has been less than expected, which Trombley took as a sign the preventative services are working.

Lexy LeDantec agrees. She was apprehensive the first time she went to Planned Parenthood, but her mother encouraged her, and she felt comfortable immediately. She praised the quality and accuracy of the sexual health information she's received, calling sex education in schools and churches inadequate and misleading.

"I honestly don't want to think about it," she said when asked what her life would have been like had she not gone to Planned Parenthood. "If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't know about a whole slew of sexually transmitted infections; I wouldn't know how to protect myself.

"I would have wound up in an unhealthy place," she said.

It's been an interesting year for the clinic's opponents as well, especially Eric Scheidler, head of Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood. Even before the clinic opened, Scheidler arranged monthly protests there, which drew hundreds of anti-abortion activists to East New York Street.

The national 40 Days for Life vigil began last week, during which protesters will maintain a 24-hour-a-day presence for nearly seven weeks.

Scheidler is "astonished" by the ongoing commitment of protesters coming out to picket the clinic. He said other anti-abortion groups across the country have been contacting him, asking how to replicate the movement he helped create in Aurora.

His legal team has several cases moving through the courts now, including a First Amendment suit in federal court against the city of Aurora and a state court complaint challenging the issuance of the occupancy permit.

While Scheidler understands Planned Parenthood offers more than abortions, he said many of the clinic's other services are "gateways," leading to abortions. That's why protesters make no distinction between those coming to the clinic for abortions or other services.

"Anyone who goes through Planned Parenthood's doors is at risk," he said.

But Teri LeDantec argues that sometimes children can't talk to their parents about sexual health matters.

"To be a parent today requires a lot of courage and the ability to know when you don't have the answers," she said. "To think you can be the catch-all, end-all for a developing individual is egotistical."

Scheidler sees a continued focus on protesting Planned Parenthood in Aurora, including what he predicts will be lengthy legal battles. He's most pleased by the bridges this movement has built between churches of all denominations, and he hopes Aurora can be a model for anti-abortion groups across the country.

Trombley expects the Aurora clinic to keep growing and keep filling a need for affordable reproductive health care in the area. The last year was sometimes difficult, but seeing the impact Planned Parenthood has made in Aurora has been worth it for him.

"It doesn't matter what it took to open (the clinic) up," he said. "The fact is we did it, and we're proud of it, and of the services we provide there."