Lynchburg city council votes in favor of abortion zoning ordinance

Following a five-hour-long public hearing last week, the City Council of Lynchburg, Virginia, voted 4-2 in favor of adopting a zoning ordinance in an attempt to prevent abortion facilities from being built within 1,000 feet of a school, church, or neighborhood.

However, one pro-life council member chose not to support the zoning ordinance because it includes an exemption for facilities that also provide "family planning services," which he said makes Planned Parenthood exempt from the ordinance. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to have the exemption removed.

Key Takeaways:

• The Lynchburg City Council voted 4-2 to pass an abortion facility zoning ordinance, restricting abortion facilities from opening in certain areas in the city, namely within 1,000 feet of a school, church, or neighborhood.

• The ordinance's definition of "abortion clinic" exempts those that offer "family planning services" from the zoning rule.

• One pro-life councilman, Chris Falardi, twice motioned for the exemption to be removed, but received no support.

The Details:

The abortion zoning ordinance defines an "abortion clinic" as:

... a facility, other than a hospital, where any person administers to, or causes to be taken by a woman, any drug, medicine, or any other substance other than contraceptive methods that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or use any instrument, device, or means, with intent to knowingly destroy the life of an embryo or fetus in his or her mother's womb, but in all cases excluding family planning services.

Councilman Chris Faraldi said in a press release that Planned Parenthood “could claim exemption from the ordinance altogether, bypassing Council review" because of the "family planning services" exemption. He motioned twice for an amendment to remove the exemption portion of the definition and said he would vote in favor of the ordinance if the family planning exemption was removed. No councilman would second the motion, according to Faraldi, who said:

"If an ordinance creates a pathway for Planned Parenthood to operate in Lynchburg without oversight, I will ALWAYS vote no. Period."

Faraldi referenced a conversation he had with Attorney Jonathan Mitchell regarding the abortion zoning ordinance. He quoted Mitchell as explaining, "I would say that zoning rules are easily evaded and fail to capture the enormity and criminality of Planned Parenthood’s conduct. We don’t 'zone' criminal organizations; we ban them from operating in our cities, period. Do we have zoning rules for bawdy houses? No, they’re outlawed. Planned Parenthood is worse than a bawdy house."

Mark Lee Dickson, founder of Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, commented on the passage of the ordinance on Facebook, saying, "When the end goal is to end abortion, zoning ordinances send a very different message. Abortion facilities are not legitimate businesses. They are murder mills that should not be given one square inch of ground in the City of Lynchburg, Virginia."

Lynchburg is now one of several Virginia communities to pass such an ordinance since Roe v. Wade fell in 2022.

Meanwhile, Virginia state lawmakers are attempting to pass a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion as a 'right' in the state constitution, which opponents say would even eliminate parental involvement laws regarding minors.

Abortion is currently legal in Virginia for any reason in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, and in the third trimester in order to save a woman's life, or when:

The physician and two consulting physicians certify and so enter in the hospital record of the woman, that in their medical opinion, based upon their best clinical judgment, the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.(c) Measures for life support for the product of such abortion or miscarriage must be available and utilized if there is any clearly visible evidence of viability.

The Backstory:

The ordinance was created by Councilman Martin Misjuns and the Family Foundation, and it was presented to the board by Lynchburg's Director of Community Development, Tom Martin.

Martin said that if anyone wants to open an abortion facility in the city, they would have to apply for a special use permit and come before the council. He also noted there are no abortion facilities in Lynchburg; meanwhile, the Planned Parenthood that was previously located in the city left in 2009, and did not commit abortions.

According to Faraldi, the exemption was added after the council originally voted 7-0 in October to send it to the Planning Commission, and "family planning services" is not defined in the ordinance. "City therefore relies on state definitions & approved organizations, one being Planned Parenthood," wrote Faraldi on Facebook.

The Bottom Line:

According to ABC 13, the majority of people present at the hearing were in favor of the ordinance, including Shannon Morlock, who was representing the Virginia Gen Z Coalition of Turning Point Action.

However, many stood against it, claiming it is based on religious beliefs, and even comparing the situation to the movie "Footloose."

Yet, it's important to note that the ordinance will not prohibit abortion facilities from opening in certain parts of the city, and could allow Planned Parenthood to open anywhere in the city, even next to schools.

Planned Parenthood has a history of failing to report the sexual abuse of minors, has been caught aiding sexual abusers, is known to transport minors across state lines for abortions without parental notification, and teaches minors to engage in dangerous sexual activity through its sex ed programs, building a future clientele for itself of individuals who will purchase birth control, undergo STD testing and treatment, and potentially buy abortions.