{"id":329998,"date":"2025-04-21T12:41:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=329998"},"modified":"2025-04-20T22:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T03:01:55","slug":"court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A court has ruled against an Illinois abortionist who opened an abortion facility in a residential neighborhood as a “home business.”<\/p>\n

Abortionist Dennis Christensen<\/a> (filmed<\/a> measuring the disarticulated body parts of a second-trimester aborted baby in the documentary “Lake of Fire”) came out of retirement in July of 2022 in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade<\/em>. He purchased two buildings in his former city of business, Rockford, Illinois, one of which was a home located within a residential neighborhood.<\/p>\n

When Christensen opened RFD Family Planning, there was immediate controversy surrounding the location. Despite efforts to have the opening blocked, the Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals ruled that the facility could be operated as a “home business,” as the previous occupant of the home had been granted a special use permit to work out of the home as a chiropractor. The Thomas More Society then filed a lawsuit<\/a> and stated in a press release that residents were not happy to have an abortion facility operating in their neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Google Maps screenshot<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAn abortion clinic in the middle of a residential neighborhood would be a problem under any circumstances,\u201d Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel Peter Breen said. \u201cBut it is especially egregious in this situation. This abortionist has already been run out of town previously, having had his facility shut down over 10 years ago by the Illinois Department of Health, because of the risks he posed to the safety and health of area women. The residents of Rockford didn\u2019t want him practicing in their town then and they don\u2019t want him selling abortions in their neighborhood now.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: Illinois House passes bill to ignore FDA if it rules abortion pill unsafe<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

After more than two years of litigation, an Illinois appeals court has ruled<\/a> in the Thomas More Society’s favor, agreeing that the zoning board should not have allowed the facility to operate there, and that Christensen is operating without a legal permit. The chiropractor’s permit, which the zoning board used to justify the location of Christensen’s facility, expired in 1982.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the whole record and considering the \u2018entire evidence,\u2019 we are left with the \u2018definite and firm\u2019 conviction the Board committed a mistake in affirming [Rockford Zoning Officer Scott] Capovilla\u2019s zoning determination,\u201d the court ruled.<\/p>\n

Breen praised the ruling in a statement issued in Thomas More Society’s newest press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this is a temporary victory, Christensen could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business; the court said he can request a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing and remain open until then.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A court has ruled against an Illinois abortionist who opened an abortion facility in a residential neighborhood as a “home business.” Abortionist Dennis Christensen (filmed measuring the disarticulated body parts of a second-trimester aborted baby in the documentary “Lake of Fire”) came out of retirement in July of 2022 in response to the overturning of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":272585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCourt rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Dennis-Christensen-Lake-of-Fire-screenshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\"},\"wordCount\":528,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Newsbreak\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\",\"name\":\"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\",\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cassy Cooke\"},\"description\":\"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area","description":"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area","og_description":"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Dennis-Christensen-Lake-of-Fire-screenshot.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassy Cooke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassy Cooke","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassy Cooke","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392"},"headline":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area","datePublished":"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/"},"wordCount":528,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Newsbreak","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/","name":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-04-21T17:41:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T03:01:55+00:00","description":"While this is a temporary victory, the abortionist could still end up being allowed to continue his grisly business.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/court-abortionist-wrongly-open-business-residential-area\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Court rules abortionist was wrongly allowed to open business in residential area"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392","name":"Cassy Cooke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cassy Cooke"},"description":"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330013,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329998\/revisions\/330013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}