“Against all odds, Manassas City Councilman Marc Aveni,
Catholic father of six, has waged a two-year struggle to
require a special use permit and public hearing for any
abortion clinic opening anywhere in the City of
Manassas,” said John Murray, pro-life coordinator at St.
Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax.
Murray is part of a large group of pro-life advocates and
Manassas locals who have worked for a proposed zoning
amendment that would alert the public to the opening of any
future abortion clinics in the city.
On May 11, the Manassas City Council voted in favor of the
proposed amendment that also would require the same special
use permits as outpatient surgeries, hospitals and medical
centers such as Patient First. The amendment faced stiff
opposition from pro-choice advocates who testified along with
pro-life advocates at the public hearings. Joan Duda, a
parishioner of All Saints Church in Manassas, was frustrated
with the lack of transparency from opponents, most of whom
did not live in Manassas.
“People were coming in from NARAL and other places, and it
was for a zoning permit,” Duda said. While a few locals
opposed the measure, many opponents came from Richmond and
Washington to testify at the Manassas public hearings.
“Special use permit doesn’t imply approval or rejection,”
Aveni said. “It becomes part of the public process …
it allows the community to exercise their First Amendment
right.”
The May 11 vote was the second vote on the amendment needed
to be made into law.
“This outcome shows how important civic engagement is and how
effective it can be.” said Jeff Caruso, Executive Director of
the Virginia Catholic Conference. Manassas now joins Fairfax
City as the second jurisdiction in Northern Virginia to
implement restrictions on abortion clinics, according to
Murray.
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