The Planned Parenthood abortion business has started abortions this week at its new facility in St. Paul, Minnesota but local pro-life advocates offering abortion alternatives information outside have already saved one baby.
As LifeNews reported this month, the Minnesota affiliate of Planned Parenthood opened a $16 million new abortion business and headquarters this week near University Avenue in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood.
Paul Stark of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has more on the opening.
“Planned Parenthood’s new Minnesota headquarters has now officially opened. Located on Vandalia Street (near University Avenue) in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, the $16 million, three-story, 46,000-square-foot facility is the largest abortion center in the state and the third largest in the nation,” he said. “Thousands of abortions will be performed there every year.”
“Planned Parenthood has also announced that it will expand the hours at its Uptown (Minneapolis) clinic, which does not perform abortions but refers women to the St. Paul center. The change in hours “allows us to serve even more men, women and teens in the area,” says Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota,” he noted.
Stark added that, “Earlier this year Planned Parenthood began offering “webcam” RU 486 abortions at its Rochester, Minnesota, clinic — a particularly dangerous method of abortion for pregnant women, but one that is sure to increase Planned Parenthood’s abortion total and revenue.”
“Planned Parenthood in Minnesota increases its abortion numbers to record highs virtually every year, even as the total number of abortions in Minnesota has slowly declined,” he said.
The potential abortion numbers dropped by at least one, according to Brian Gibson of Pro-Life Action Ministries.
“The morning of the first day that the new Planned Parenthood mega-site was open, about 50 people joined with us in prayer while we worked out the details of sidewalk counseling at the third largest Planned Parenthood in the nation,” he said in an email to LifeNews. “And on the second day (December 21) a baby was saved from abortion through our sidewalk counseling efforts.”
“We have so much to thank God for during this past year; from that first baby saved at the mega-Planned Parenthood to the closing of the abortion facility inside Regions Hospital to documenting our 2,600th baby saved in our history to 94 babies saved so far this year,” he added.
The new abortion business comes as the state was celebrating record low numbers of abortions earlier this year — something that may change with Planned Parenthood expanding its operations in St. Paul.
In July, new statistics from the state health department in Minnesota showed the number of abortions have dropped once again to the lowest point since 1975, thanks in part to a program that provides help for pregnant women. Abortion numbers fell for the fourth straight year in Minnesota, according to the latest report issued today from the Minnesota Department of Health. The decrease follows a trend of fewer abortions statewide since the Positive Alternatives program began in July 2006, funding efforts to help pregnant women in need.
The annual Abortion Report shows a total of 11,505 abortions were done in Minnesota in 2010, more than seven percent fewer than the 12,388 done in 2009.The 2010 total is the lowest number on record since two years after the Roe v. Wade decision released by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down pro-life laws protecting women and unborn children across the country.
Positive Alternatives is one of several pro-life legislative efforts by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) to offer women life-affirming alternatives to abortion and to significantly reduce the number of unborn babies aborted each year. Others include the Woman’s Right to Know informed consent law, and the parental notification law for minors considering abortion.
“Seeing abortion numbers fall is confirmation that MCCL’s efforts to educate and provide alternatives for women are working,” said director Scott Fischbach. “However, recent pro-life losses suffered at the Capitol, and Planned Parenthood’s massive abortion center set to open, do not bode well for the unborn or their mothers going forward.”
With the help of pro-life citizens across the state, MCCL succeeded in gaining passage of five pro-life measures during the 2011 regular legislative session. All five were quickly vetoed by pro-abortion Gov. Mark Dayton, including the re-authorization of the state’s existing policy banning taxpayer funding of human cloning. Protective legislation was excluded from any final budget compromise in a deal struck by Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Koch and Speaker of the House Zellers.
Positive Alternatives was passed by the Legislature in 2005 and signed into law by pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty to establish a grant program through MDH. Grants are given to life-affirming organizations offering essential services to women; 31 organizations are currently participating in the Positive Alternatives grant program. The state health department shows more than 25,000 women statewide were helped through the Positive Alternatives program in its first four years (July 2006-June 2010).
“The fact that 11,505 pregnant women last year still believed that abortion was their only or best option underscores the enormous need for women to find alternatives to abortion,” Fischbach said. “Minnesota needs to continue to establish greater protections for unborn children and their mothers. The Department of Health statistics clearly show that help provided by Positive Alternatives and other legislative measures drive down abortion numbers as women find life-affirming alternatives.”
