Oregon Planned Parenthood Breaks Ground on New Abortion Biz

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 29, 2011   |   4:46PM   |   Eugene, OR

Although Planned Parenthood is closing abortion and abortion referral centers elsewhere in the nation, the abortion business broke ground on a new abortion center in Glenwood, Oregon — near Eugene.

Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon is building a new facility that will house its regional health and education center that will do abortions. Cynthia Pappas, the CEO of the abortion business, said the new facility is important for health care for women — even though Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms for women or provide pregnant women with much else beyond abortion. She said the two-year-old $8.5 million project is expected to be completed in 2014.

Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Peter DeFazio were both at the event and the two long-time pro-abortion politicians have extensive voting records supporting abortion and taxpayer funding of abortions. Wyden said, according to KMTR, “The new facility proves Oregon is staying focused on providing quality health services for women.”

“There is an effort right now in this country to overturn Roe vs. Wade,” Wyden said. “I’m here today to renew my pledge to do everything I can on the floor of the U.S. Senate to protect that decision.”

Planned Parenthood currently leases spaces in Eugene and Springfield and said it has outgrown those locations, which will be merged into the one new facility, a 20,000-square-foot building that will be built by Pat Duerr of Chambers Construction in Eugene. The project, which received a $73,000 federal Community Development Block Grant, is expected to be open by Fall 2012.

Despite the political support for the new abortion business, local pro-life advocates turned out in droves, according to Gayle Atteberry, the director of Oregon Right to Life.

“As many protestors as supporters attended the ground-breaking of Planned Parenthood’s new abortion headquarters,” she told LifeNews. “The pro-lifers of this area are fired up and ready to fight this new death-mill every step of the way.”

Pastor David Jaspers of Springfield’s St. Alice Catholic Church also attended the protest of the groundbreaking, according to KMTR, and said, “Abortion is the hot topic on this center because it’s really the heart of what this center is. What’s different is, now they’ll be able to do full-term abortions versus chemical ones.”

Pro-life advocates gathered 1,600 petition signatures from Eugene residents who oppose the new building and they presented the list to Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy.

The groundbreaking comes after news that one of the two abortion businesses operated by long-time Oregon abortion practitioner Peter Bours, who began doing abortions in the state in 1975, has reportedly closed. Bours, according to 40 Days for Life national spokesman Shawn Carney, has closed his abortion center in Forest Grove, a suburb west of Portland, although he continues operating an abortion business in Eugene.

The Bours web site seems to corroborate that report, saying, “We have had offices in Forest Grove, Portland, and Eugene but now see patients only in Eugene.”

Atteberry told LifeNews she is delighted with the news that an abortion facility in her state has closed.

“This is a significant victory, as Peter Bours has been Oregon’s infamous late-term abortionist for many years. He is still in business elsewhere in the state, but every one of his clinics that closes means that more babies will live,” Atteberry said.