Abortion Activists Alarmed by Surge in Abortion Clinics Closings

National   |   Jill Stanek   |   Sep 12, 2013   |   3:13PM   |   Washington, DC

The growing number of abortion clinic closures in recent years has apparently reached critical mass. Liberals and the mainstream media are taking notice with alarm.

And either the clinics are closing at such a fast pace abortion supporters can’t keep up, or there have been so many they can’t count them all.

Either way, They can’t get the numbers straight. And it’s all good.

Think Progress, August 26:

According to a Huffington Post analysis, at least 52 abortion clinics across 26 states have shut down since 2010.

Whoops, that’s not what HuffPo reported, or perhaps it did a recount:

At least 54 abortion providers across 27 states have shut down or ended their abortion services in the past three years….

But on September 3, Bloomberg reported:

At least 58 U.S. abortion clinics — almost 1 in 10 — have shut or stopped providing the procedure since 2011.

This appears to be the most reliable figure at the moment, because the Bloomberg journalist did a fair amount of research, giving props to a website run by Operation Rescue:

… www.abortiondocs.org [lists] the addresses of current and former clinics are listed beside photos of doctors and owners.

It’s one of most comprehensive tallies, referenced by supporters and opponents of abortion rights alike. Using it as a starting point, Bloomberg verified at least 58 clinics that closed or ceased providing abortions in 24 states through phone calls to current and former area providers, information from state health officials and local news reports.

Love this quote by Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at Guttmacher Institute:

This kind of change is incredibly dramatic. What we’ve been seeing since 1982 was a slow decline, but this kind of change … [is] so different from what’s happened in the past.

The other side blames (again quoting Bloomberg):

A wave of regulations that makes it too expensive or logistically impossible for facilities to remain in business drove at least a third of the closings. Demographic changes, declining demand, industry consolidation, doctor retirements and crackdowns on unfit providers were also behind the drop.

I’ll add that a few of the so-called “retirements” are by abortionists who saw what happened to Kermit Gosnell and want to creep off into the sunset without one last clinic inspection, hoping along the way former employees will forget what they know.

While we are on the topic of abortion clinic numerology, here are some more. From the Associated Press, September 5:

DALLAS – Four abortion clinics are preparing to shutter in the coming months as a result of stricter requirements imposed by a new state law regulating abortion….

Two others closed earlier this year. Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, said she’s heard of three additional clinics that are planning to close….

If all nine clinics end up closing, that would be about a quarter of all the facilities in Texas.

LifeNews.com, September 3:

An abortion clinic in Michigan where a woman was forced to have an abortion has closed down, according to… Life Dynamics… [which] says 10 abortion clinics in Michigan have closed down since November 2011.

And from an email from 40 Days for Life, September 9:

We were all set to announce the list of cities taking part in the upcoming 40 Days for Life campaign … when something happened. Planned Parenthood shut down another abortion center! Faithful volunteers in Midland, Texas were ready to start their FIFTH 40 Days for Life vigil outside that facility… but their prayers have been answered.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

Plans were also in the works for a SEVENTH campaign in Toledo, Ohio. But there, too, God responded to the prayers of His faithful. The abortion center CLOSED!

And, as you probably know, volunteers in Bryan/College Station, Texas – the place where 40 Days for Life started – were getting ready for an unprecedented FOURTEENTH 40 Days for Life vigil outside the local Planned Parenthood facility. But God answered years of consistent prayer. The abortion center CLOSED!

This has now happened 40 TIMES. These latest closures bring the number of closed abortion facilities – where 40 Days for Life prayer vigils have been held – to 40!

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, says pro-lifers are simply overturning Roe v. Wade in a different way.

“For 40 years we focused on overturning Roe v. Wade in Washington, D.C.,” Newman told me in a phone interview. “But the baby saved by a sidewalk counselor today has overturned Roe. When we run abortionists out of clinics, we overturn Roe. When we close a clinic, we save babies, and Roe is overturned.  All of this makes Roe irrelevant and outdated.”

LifeNews.com Note: Jill Stanek fought to stop “live birth abortions” after witnessing one as an RN at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. That led to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act legislation, signed by President Bush, that would ensure that proper medical care be given to unborn children who survive botched abortion attempts.