Abortion Business in Florida Closes After Operating for Year Without License
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 6, 2009
Pensacola, FL (LifeNews.com) — An abortion business in Pensacola, Florida has closed after state officials determined it had operated for well over a year without a proper medical license. The Community Healthcare Center, one of two area abortion centers, closed its doors on Friday.
Officials with the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration inspected the abortion business last month and determined the center’s laboratory license had been expired for 413 days.
The abortion center had a choice to close down or pay a $413,000 fine to the for Agency for Healthcare Administration and it chose to cease operating.
Abortion center staff have refused to talk with local media so far about whether the facility will close for good, but the state says it can’t reopen until the fine is paid. The state offered the abortion center a reduced fine but never heard back.
Ernie Cyr, the Pensacola coordinator of the local 40 Days for Life pro-life prayer campaign, is excited by the news. He said he first learned of the Community Healthcare Center’s closing when he read a legal notice in the newspaper.
"As of October 30th, 2009, The Community Health Center of Pensacola will be terminating its practice," it read.
"It’s just a complete joy and what a blessing on our community to have this facility close," he told WEAR-TV. "I’m in the dark just as much as the next person, so we don’t really know why exactly. We call it a miracle, really."
Bernadette Ensley — a University of West Florida student, and head of UWF’s Students for Life group, also reacted to the news, saying, "For this to up and close the last weekend of 40 Days for Life is really shocking and great."
The news of the closing of the abortion center follows other an announcement earlier this month that Planned Parenthood of Indiana plans to cut 25 jobs at its abortion centers across the state.
Last month it announced five of its centers would close.
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