By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Protesters gathered outside Chicago’s Local 134 building Thursday evening after Cardinal Blase Cupich announced he would present a Catholic humanitarian award to businessman Michael Sachs, who has donated to Planned Parenthood and allied groups.
The protest drew four speakers and came as top Illinois Democrats, including Gov. JB Pritzker, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, attended the event where Sachs received the award. Channel 7 ABC covered the protest outside the building.
Dr. Kerry Mendoza, an emergency physician who is also an Orthodox Jew, told the crowd that raising concerns about abortion is not anti-Semitic. “To raise concerns about abortion on demand … is offensive to me because it goes against the Hippocratic Oath,” Mendoza said. “Raising those concerns is not anti-Semitic … it also really cheapens the concerns around anti-Semitism that is really rising. I have concerns for my personal safety, the safety of my family.”
Cupich addressed the anti-Semitism question directly in a statement to Channel 7, after facing criticism from protesters over honoring a major Planned Parenthood donor. “Refusing to honor or engage with Jews slowly because they hold conflicting religious or political positions can risk mimicking historic patterns of anti-Semitism through exclusion and bigotry,” Cupich said.
Mary Kate Zander, executive director of Illinois Right to Life, and Matthew Yankee of the Pro-Life Action League also addressed the crowd outside the Local 134 building, though their remarks were not quoted directly in available broadcast coverage.
Sachs has donated close to $1 million to Planned Parenthood and allied organizations, radio hosts covering the event said. The specific humanitarian award Cupich presented to Sachs was not named in available coverage of the event.
The protest unfolded as a labor event honoring Sachs drew some of the state’s most prominent elected Democrats to the same building, creating a split-screen moment between the demonstrators outside and the award ceremony inside. Mendoza’s remarks, which also referenced a recent emergency room case involving complications from an abortion pill, were among the most extensive comments from any protest speaker to air on radio or television.
No further events related to the protest had been scheduled as of Friday. Cardinal Cupich’s office did not issue additional public comment beyond the Channel 7 statement.
