Update: The Huffington Post assessed the "dramatic toll" that recent pro-life laws have taken on abortion clinics, with Arizona leading the way. Meanwhile, the abortion battle has gone digital as more states ban abortions by telemedicine.
CT has examined the new pro-life surge in-depth.
-----
(BP) For Abby Johnson, the closing of a single Planned Parenthood center demonstrated her dramatic reversal from abortion clinic director to leading pro-life advocate.
But for pro-lifers throughout the United States, it marked another
exhibit in a hopeful trend—abortion centers are shutting down at an
unprecedented rate. The total so far this year is 44, according to a
pro-life organization that tracks clinic operations.
None was more telling for Johnson than the mid-July closing of the Planned Parenthood
center in Bryan, Texas. It came less than four years after Johnson,
burdened by her involvement with abortion, walked out of that clinic as
its director and into the offices of the Coalition for Life.
"Knowing that the former abortion clinic I once ran is now closing is
the biggest personal victory of my life," Johnson said in a written
statement after the announcement of the shutdown. "From running that
facility, to then advocating for its closure, and now celebrating that
dream ... it shows that my life has indeed come full circle."
Since her celebrated conversion from Planned Parenthood director,
Johnson has started a ministry to help workers leave the abortion
industry. She has pledged, as she said in July, to "fight until every
abortion clinic in this country has shut its doors."
This year, 42 clinics that provided surgical abortions have shut their
doors, and two that offered chemical abortions by drugs also have
closed, according to Operation Rescue, which monitors closings and
health and safety violations by clinics nationwide. That number far
surpasses the 25 surgical clinics shutdown last year and the 30 in 2011,
by Operation Rescue's count. While others estimate a smaller number of
closings, the pattern is clear.
Some of the shutdowns have been of major clinics. For instance, Virginia's No. 1 abortion provider closed, The Washington Post
reported in July. NOVA Women's Healthcare in Fairfax, Va., shut down
after state and local governments enacted regulations the abortion
provider appeared unable to meet. The northern Virginia clinic performed
3,066 abortions in 2012 and 3,567 in 2011.
The reasons given for the upswing in closings are varied even among pro-lifers. They include:
-- the increasing state regulation and oversight of clinics;
-- a significant decline in the abortion rate.
In some cases, clinics have shut down when abortion doctors retired or were no longer licensed.
State legislatures enacted 69 pro-life laws this year, according to a
report released Thursday (Sept. 5) by Americans United for Life. In all,
48 states considered about 360 such proposals in 2013, AUL reported.
The legislative action this year continued a recent trend in states: 70 "life-affirming measures" became law in 2011 and 38 in 2012, according to AUL.
Some measures have targeted
making the procedure and clinics safer for women, and have helped
escalate the number of clinic shutdowns. This year, states such as
Alabama, North Carolina and Texas
passed varied laws either requiring abortion clinics to meet the same
health and safety standards as outpatient surgical centers, or
authorizing the state to enforce such requirements. Also, in 2013, North
Dakota and Wisconsin joined Alabama and Texas in mandating abortion
doctors have admitting privileges at local hospitals.
Editor's note: Read the full Baptist Press article here. CT has previously reported on abortion clinic restrictions and legislation restricting abortion. CT also covered pro-life groups exposing abortion practices and how pro-lifers are winning the abortion battle.
Source: http://bit.ly/1aI3v2J
0 comentários:
Post a Comment
Be respectful. Comments are moderated.