New Florida Town Looks to Ban Abortions

By BRIAN SKOLOFF
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in a quiet corner of southwest Florida will be governed by strict Catholic principles, particularly when it comes to sex.

The pizza magnate, raised by nuns in orphanages, is bankrolling the town called Ave Maria with millions of dollars, calling its construction ``God's will.'' Stores won't sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies won't carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels, he said in a speech last year to the first annual Boston Catholic Men's Conference.

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and promise lawsuits.

The town is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in four decades, which Monaghan also founded. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples.

The community, developed through a partnership with the Barron Collier Company, an agricultural and real estate firm, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center. It will encircle a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, standing nearly 65 feet tall.

Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues of the proposed bans. He said Monaghan would not comment until the issue is resolved.

``If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

While Simon notes there are religiously homogenous communities across the country, from Hasidic Jews to Mormons, none can ``wield governmental power along the lines of religious principle.''

Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town and could include provisions in leases that restrict the sale of certain items. Homes will range from affordable to extravagant and will be purchased outright by prospective buyers.

Unlike some states, Florida pharmacies don't have to provide contraceptives.

``The law doesn't say exactly what a pharmacy has to stock or sell,'' said Thometta Cozart, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in the town, will not prescribe any birth control to students. The hospital has not decided whether it will prescribe to the general public.

``I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines,'' Monaghan said in a recent Newsweek interview.

However, Simon points to a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that ``ownership does not always mean absolute dominion.''

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan.

``The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment,'' Crist said Tuesday. ``If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge.''

A telephone message left for Collier County officials was not immediately returned.

Gov. Jeb Bush, at the university's recent groundbreaking, lauded the development as a new kind of town, where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.

``While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments,'' Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.

``This is country club Christianity,'' said Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington, D.C.-based Catholics for a Free Choice, which opposes the church's bans on abortion and birth control.

She likened the town's concept to Islamic fundamentalism and teaching intolerance.

``This is un-American,'' Kissling said. ``I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens.''

On The Net:

Ave Maria University: www.naples.avemaria.edu

Ave Maria: www.avemaria.com

wow...i so want to vandalize a domino's pizza place now.

I don’t understand, why over the last few years have there been so many hits on woman’s reproductive rights and abortion?

It seems like everywhere I look there’s reactionaries trying to ban it or undermine its moral position so they can latter on ban it.

Well, here in the US there are significant reactionary regions,-- the mid-west, some southern states and with the new appointments of a few anti-abortion conservatives in the Supreme Court it opens up the channel for them to challenge reproduction and sex rights. Basically the US constitution is merely an abstract piece of paper. If it had any real ligit legal merit, most of the Supreme Court Judges would not be sitting on the bench right now,because of the Constitutional Right of Separation of Church and State which conflicts with their religious biases.

hmm im curious about the official position on alcohol.
and if they would allow gunstores to be in this town.

There are some interesting possible ramifications of this proposal.

Consider why such a "town" is thought necessary. The serious Catholics like Thomas S. Monaghan evidently feel that they "cannot compete with sin"...that if they do not create their own "sin-free fortress", they will "lose their children" to secularism.

That's why they need "their own university" -- they probably think Notre Dame is a "football school" and no longer "really Catholic". At their own school, they can, if they wish, go back to teaching astronomy according to Ptolemy, biology according to Aristotle, and medicine according to Galen.

Consider the kind of people who would want to live in such a town or attend such a "university"...does that desire not reveal an enormous fear of the larger society in which they live -- increasingly secularized in daily life regardless of the official public rhetoric.

It's a "bunker mentality"...and one that perhaps should be encouraged in the superstitious. The more fearful they become, the less their influence is likely to prevail outside of their bunkers.

It will be a hellish place for adolescents, of course. I can safely predict that their per capita "runaway count" will easily be the highest in Florida.

And I look forward to the first major hurricane that devastates the area...and the tortured "explanations" of why "God" should "smite His own".

But I wouldn't mind at all if the Protestant evangelicals (a.k.a. Christian Fascists) started building towns like this on their own. The repressive measures that they would inevitably adopt would expose to the public at large the real face of Christianity. :angry:

And that would help us...at least in the long run.

Such a place can never survive for any lengthy amount of time. Its level of repression will cause the community to collapse under its own weight. I can just imagine all the scandalous extra-marital affairs, abortions, and underage sex that will undoubtedly happen there. It seems to me that whenever sexuality is repressed, people get incredibly horny.

I love how they are establishing classist hierarchy from the get go, I'm sure Jesus is smiling down on those elite who live in their catholic mansions being served by the catholic peasants living in catholic shacks.

yeah thats what its all about anyway.

and from my experience the more religious someone is the more they "sin"
its an observation i made and is proven time and time again.

The Religious certainly do seem to be "ghettoising" themselves....

Hispanic Baptist university set to build new student housing

A new city upon a hill eh? The attraction of sin and money always breaks these places apart.

Let them build it! If they want to be so "rightous" and be all into the religious doctrines let them! If their women want it too...let them! Dont even bother with trying to bring them enlightenment or death. Just let them live in their own little corner! At least this would mean I wouldnt have to live next a whole family of these God worshipping loonies!

What would prevent people from seeking pleasure or abortions in a neighboring city like Cape Coral? I don't think that this Christian "fortress" will hold out for long.

Naples, ay? That ain't too far from me.



In a couple years they're going to wonder why so many illegitamite kids look like me.

Quote:

RedStar2000

Hey man watch it! Your talking about my bastard children!

its inevitable that a bootleg porn industry will come to their rescue, only to have that industry be corrupted by the money it can make.