ROCKFORD, Illinois (LifeSiteNews) — An abortionist who was forced to shut down a notorious killing center in northern Illinois due to unsanitary conditions is now planning on opening a new abortuary in the same city of Rockford.
Dennis Christensen once operated the Northern Illinois Women’s Center (NIWC) abortion center in Rockford, which had its license suspended in 2011 after finding four abortion instruments “stained with a brown substance,” among other health violations. The facility was also known for displaying images and signs that mocked pro-lifers, such as a rubber chicken affixed to a crucifix, and an image portraying Jesus giving the middle finger that read, “Even Jesus hates you.”
The facility also displayed rubber chickens hanging by nooses, which caused a few black women to decide against obtaining abortions there.
After this facility was permanently closed, Christensen worked at the abortion center Affiliated Medical Services (AMS) in Milwaukee. He was denied admitting privileges to hospitals while there because he and AMS were “not subject to review by a professional board to make sure their practices meet hospital standards,” according to Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Aurora Healthcare and Froedtert Health Inc.
After the Milwaukee abortion facility was forced to shut down in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Christensen began to operate an abortion center in a residential neighborhood in Rockford in January 2023, where he has been dispensing abortion pills. Nearby residents shortly thereafter sued in order to shut down the facility, citing a negative impact on the neighborhood.
Now, he is planning on supplementing this facility with surgical abortions at 4236 Maray Drive in Rockford. However, he is in need of staff before the location begins its killing operations. The abortion mills especially target women from Wisconsin, who must cross state lines in order to legally abort their children.
Kevin Rilott, president of local pro-life organization Rockford Family Initiative, shared with LifeSiteNews a letter he penned to Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara urging him to publicly declare that Christensen “is not welcome in Rockford” due to his displays of “hate” and “bigotry:”
You know his history: Christensen was medical Director of the former Rockford abortion business that was closed by the state of Illinois for not sanitizing surgical instruments, unsanitary operating rooms and a dozen other horrific violations that according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, placed, ‘women’s lives in immediate danger.’
Christensen also allowed signs to be posted in his former business that mocked African Americans, told people with the HIV virus they would ‘rot and die,’ and claimed the 50,000 children they killed by abortion is a victory over Jesus Christ.
Mayor McNamara, in public you say you are for a safe, just and fair city. We are humbly asking you to make a clear public statement that the dangerous and hate filled bigotry of this abortion mill owner is not welcome in Rockford.
Rilott then alluded to instances in which Christensen’s Rockford clinic taunted pro-lifers with insulting messages, such as by displaying a sign targeting a pro-lifer who contracted HIV by a blood transfusion. The sign read, “God loves you so much he is letting you ‘rot’ away.” He continued in his letter:
Mayor McNamara, you have spoken publicly for immigrants, the LGBQ community, for the poor, for minorities. Is your support for people based on political posturing? Do you care when African Americans are mocked and ridiculed with nooses as this abortionist did? Do you care when people who have the HIV virus are told they are going to ‘rot’ as this abortionist did?
In 2022, McNamara voiced his support for Christensen’s abortion operations in Rockford upon hearing about his plans to open an abortuary.
“We need more healthcare providers in our community. Right now, truthfully, women are under attack in our country. Women deserve the right to healthcare, they deserve the right to their choices in healthcare, and I am highly supportive of that,” McNamara said, according to a local news outlet.