BREAKING: 93 abortion clinics closed in 2013
Operation Rescue has posted a year-end report on the number of abortion clinics that closed in 2013, and the news is good.
OR, which hosts AbortionDocs.org and tracks abortion clinic comings and goings, reports a whopping 87 surgical abortion clinics and six medical abortion clinics closed in 2013, for a total of 93.
Put together with the discovery of six previously unknown abortion mills, “[t]his represents an impressive 12% net decrease in surgical abortion clinics in 2013 alone, and a 73% drop from a high in 1991 of 2,176,” writes Cheryl Sullenger of OR.
The total number of remaining abortion clinics stands at 759.
All six abortion pill clinics that closed were Planned Parenthood affiliates, Sullenger told me via email. Nevertheless, OR reports Planned Parenthood still operates 93% of all abortion pill clinics. It also operates about 30% of all surgical abortion mills.
In its November 27 story, “The Vanishing Abortion Clinic,” Bloomberg listed several reasons for the recent rash of abortion clinic closures:
New laws are responsible for roughly half of the closures, while declining demand, industry consolidation, and crackdowns on unfit providers have also contributed to the drop.
Last month the Centers for Disease Control reported a 3% drop in abortions for 2010, which followed a 5% drop in 2009. While there are likely several reasons for this, decreasing access must be one.
Pro-lifers are still working toward the elusive victory of an abortion-free state. At present five states have only one abortion provider: Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
On that front the Associated Press reported on December 18 that Red River Women’s Clinic in North Dakota was “on pace to end the year with the fewest number of pregnancy-ending procedures recorded in more than a decade… [with] about 1,125 abortions – around a 15% drop from the 1,330 in 2012.” If the trend continues, at some point the business will have to fold.
Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic was granted a temporary reprieve this spring when a judge enjoined a law enacted in 2012 requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Clinic owner Diane Derzis sued and will get her day in court this coming spring.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
If only we could somehow get seven more closures in before the end of the year. That would be just awesome.
That’s good news. Signs of genuine progress.
Also at issue, the medical professional who says, “I’m pro-choice, but I’m not willing to be the one doing the deed.”
Excellent. Sometimes trying to protect the unborn seems hopeless until you see stuff like this. Pretty good Christmas present!
Wondering how much is due to pro-life efforts vs decrease in # of pregnancies as well as population decreases.
“on pace to end the year with the fewest number of pregnancy-ending procedures recorded in more than a decade…
This one wins that “bending over backward to try to avoid mentioning abortion.” As a side note: C-sections and induced labor are also “pregnancy ending procedures.”
Hi Chris, to give you an answer, if you look at the CDC abortion stats, the abortion ratio has been trending down as well. In contrast to numbers and rates, the ratio examines the number of live births vs. abortions. So, all of those things you mentioned play a factor and it would be hard to say how much each of those play into it, but we can at least say our prolife activities have been productive, lives have been saved!
Sounds like good news. Do clinics that dispense the abortion pill have to have any special registration or something? How would we know if a regular looking ob/gyn office participates in medical abortions? Don’t want to be a downer, but since abortion stats aren’t required by law and are based on voluntary reports, I put no stock in reports of decreasing numbers of abortions. It never fails to tick me off that the CDC/US Fed Gov’t doesn’t care enough about women to track adverse reactions/results or even the prevalence of one of the most common women’s surgeries.
“Do clinics that dispense the abortion pill have to have any special registration or something? How would we know if a regular looking ob/gyn office participates in medical abortions?”
This does worry me, Lrning. Quite a bit. I’m encouraged by abortion clinics closing and less medical abortions reported, but you do have a great point that RU-486 exists and there could be equal amounts of abortions happening because of that.
THOUGH, there is evidence that the younger adults (ages 18-29) are more anti abortion than ever, and the teen pregnancy rate is down all together. So that’s at least encouraging.
I am so happy that ~45 clinics in the US closed due to lack of business and/or the removal of some shoddy butcher abortionists!
Regulatory laws to make abortion safe are good, and those closings show how much the industry cares less about “healthcare” and more about profits. But the lack of business means that hearts are really turning in this culture, and the removal of the butchers means that regulators are really to care about safety.
“But the lack of business means that hearts are really turning in this culture.”
…or that the obstacles to getting an abortion are too high, meaning that women are having children they don’t feel psychologically or physically able to care for. Pro-life, FTW!
May you have a wonderful Christmas Megan. The best to you and yours – God bless!
There are many people who would love to adopt their child if they really feel like they can’t care for them.
This sort of thing makes me angry. People that are pro-life are only wanting a child born. How many of you actually go out and adopt many children to take them out of foster systems, make sure the millions of unwanted children already born are cared for, fed, educated and housed? So many of you just want them to be born, but don’t care if they live in third world conditions, are malnourished, abused and under educated. If you aren’t going out and having abortions, then stop trying to make it your business. And technically, a miscarriage is your body rejecting the baby, hence a natural abortion. So to all you women out there that have had miscarriages and finally got a miracle baby, congratulations on being more murderous than a women having ONE abortion. I do not really care if anyone is offended, because how many of you think that if you donate a few dollars here, say your beliefs, and bible thump, that you are doing a good job in this world? Protecting the unborn, and slowing killing them once they are born. Closing those clinics are just good for nothing victories.