Abortionists can't handle new health standards

Last year, 87 abortion facilities discontinued offering surgical abortions, and this year a similarly significant decline is developing.

Both sides attribute the closures to new state laws requiring that abortionists have admitting privileges to a local hospital, should an emergency occur.

According to the Washington Times, 19 clinics in Texas, including two already this month, that have closed because of new regulations.

The report said a similar law in Mississippi has put the future of the state's only abortion clinic in doubt as court proceedings continue. Closures also have occurred in Florida, Alabama and other states.

Dana Cody of the Life Legal Defense Foundation said the new laws, public health enforcement efforts, prayers and outreach by sidewalk counselors have made an impact.

Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League said the closures are a statement about the quality of care offered by abortion businesses.

"When abortion clinics are required to adhere to the kind of standards that we expect from any kind of medical facility many of them will shut down. And I think that's a real indictment of the entire abortion business," he said.

The New York Times recently reported that by the end of the year, only six abortion businesses are expected to be operating in Texas.

As recently as 2011, 44 clinics were in operation.

Pro-life activists said in the report that they were glad for one significant reason that two recent closures were announced.

"We are pleased that women will never again receive substandard care from either of these abortion facilities," said Joe Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life.

In Texas, the second half of the health standards will hit abortion businesses this fall, and they will then be required to meet surgical-center standards.

WND reported last month that five abortion clinics already had been closed across the nation in 2014.

Operation Rescue compiled the list of 2013 closures in its effort to monitor the decline of America's abortion businesses. The ministry itself bought one abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan., to make sure that it was put permanently out of business.

The organization said, in a year-end report for 2013, 87 businesses discontinued offering surgical abortions during the year, including 81 that were permanently shuttered.

In the report,"Death Throws of the Death Industry," Operation Rescue's Cheryl Sullenger explained the closures left the number of surgical abortion clinics in the U.S. at that time at 582, a drop of 12 percent in just 2013 alone and a 73 percent plunge from the high in 1991 of 2,176.

The organization said one of the most recent clinic to be shut was the Family Planning Associates in Montclair, Calif.

It closed due to a lost lease.

"The building is up for sale and there are currently no plans to reopen the clinic at another location," the organization reported.

"Furnishings stacked behind the clinic near a large Dumpster, which was loaded with medical and office equipment, more furniture, brochures, and even money bags from a local bank, indicate that the business is finished," the report said.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said that when abortion clinics "are tossing out the money bags, you know they have shut down for good."

FPA was run for more than 20 years in a building that once was a funeral home.

"It looks like this abortion facility has thrown in the towel and is referring women to other abortion clinics in the FPA chain," Newman said. "Because there will no longer be an abortion business in this community, we know many women will simply opt to keep their babies. It's a proven fact that when abortion clinics close, lives are saved."

In the report for 2013, Sullenger said abortion-pill-only clinic numbers remained steady at 176, with only six closures.

But Newman said the drastic decline in locations where abortions are available "shows that the pro-life movement is gaining ground and that the abortion industry is collapsing – mostly due to its own negligence and greed, which has been exposed by their unwillingness and inability to comply with even the most rudimentary safety standards."

In addition to the requirement for hospital admitting privileges, officials also cite a drop in the demand for abortion and a surge in pro-life sentiment.

Other factors were greater reporting of abortionists abusing the law and the fact that many abortionists are retiring and are not being replaced.

"The state with the most closures [during 2013] was Texas at 11, most of which shut down after Texas passed an abortion law earlier this year that required abortionists to maintain local hospital privileges. New clinic safety rules accounted for closures in Pennsylvania and Maryland as well," the report said.

Among the notable cases was the Nova Healthcare Center in Fairfax, Va., which was "closed because of failure to pay back rent that caused Nova's landlord to terminate their lease amid revelations from pro-life groups that women were being injured and mistreated there."

Another was Associates in OB/GYN Care in Baltimore, which was "closed by the state after repeated dangerous deficiencies, including the death of patient Maria Santiago in February."

Then there was the New Women All Women business in Birmingham, Ala., which was ordered closed "by a judge after pro-life groups documented and reported it for operating illegally in violation of a closure order last year."

Felony convictions for insurance fraud also got in the way of another abortionist's operation plans.

The taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood is left as the behemoth in the business, with its branches accounting for 30 percent of all active surgical abortion clinics.

Operation Rescue has created the AbortionDocs.org website, which lists every American surgical and medication abortion clinic, and the documents that often show the clinics are engaged in dangerous practices.

"We have invested untold man-hours to ensure that AbortionDocs.org is constantly updated with the latest information about the status of abortion clinics, whether they are facing disciplinary action, or have been temporarily or permanently closed," said Newman. "It represents the most accurate information on abortion clinics in existence."

He confirmed that the numbers show that the pro-life movement is growing, and as people realize exactly what an abortion is, they oppose it.