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| Abortionist Dennis Christensen |
FOIA requests made by Operation Rescue revealed that Christensen does not have an active Illinois medical license. His most recent license expired in 2017 after his last Rockford abortion clinic was shut down by the state of Illinois. In 2011 inspectors found the Rockford clinic had unsanitized medical instruments, "brown substances" on surgical equipment and gloves, no hospital admitting privileges, and no registered nurse present during invasive procedures.
Christenen's new abortion business, the Rockford Family Planning Center, is located on Auburn St in a residential neighborhood. The Rockford Zoning Board of Appeals allowed the clinic to operate in the location due to a 40-year-old special permit allowing a home medical office there. The permit requires the operator to use the building as his primary residence. Christensen hopes to meet this requirement by arranging for the "manager of the site" to live in the clinic.
Citizens living in the neighborhood filed a lawsuit against Christensen for his attempt to skirt the zoning law. The lawsuit alleges that the zoning board erred in its decision to allow Christensen to operate a "home business" out of a building that is not his home.
Christensen purchased a second location at 4236 Maray Drive last summer. He plans to sell surgical abortions from that location. The "home business" clinic currently only offers abortion pills.
“The recklessness already legally present in the state is apparently not enough for Christensen and the city of Rockford,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “This illegal killing center currently operating, as well as Christensen’s plans for another abortion business in the city, needs to be shut down for good. The lawlessness in Rockford just adds to the dangerous, legal abortion clinics spread throughout the state that continue to put abortion-vulnerable mothers at extreme risk – including those traveling from other states.”