Independent abortion businesses are closing at a rapid pace across the United States as states pass laws to protect unborn babies and mothers from abortion.
A new report from the pro-abortion Abortion Care Network found that almost one third of all independent abortion facilities have closed since 2012.
The network is made up of independent abortionists that are not part of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in America. Independent abortion businesses perform more than 50 percent of all abortions; Planned Parenthood abortion centers and hospitals and doctors’ offices do the rest.
Between 2014 and 2019, 136 independent abortion businesses closed across the country. States that saw the highest number of closures were California at 15, Texas at 15, Florida at 11 and Michigan at 11, according to the report.
Currently, there are 334 independent abortion facilities in the country, the report states.
Independent abortion facilities do the vast majority of late-term abortions. According to the report, they perform 94 percent of all abortions at or after 22 weeks of pregnancy. Babies now are viable at 22 weeks.
Meanwhile, very few new abortion facilities are opening. The report described it as only a “handful.”
The pro-abortion group blamed pro-life laws and other efforts as the main reason for the closures. However, it appears the researchers only speculated about the reason; they apparently did not ask the abortion facilities why they closed.
“Anti-abortion politicians have long used onerous restrictions to try and shut down independent abortion providers,” Nikki Madsen, executive director of the Abortion Care Network, told CBS News. “Since 2010, anti-abortion politicians have passed more than 400 laws that attempt to make it too expensive or logistically impossible for abortion clinics to operate.”
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These laws actually are common sense abortion clinic regulations that protect women and unborn babies. They ensure abortion facilities meet basic health and safety standards by requiring annual inspections, hospital admitting agreements for emergency complications, statistical reporting to the state and more. Abortion clinic regulations help to protect patients from horrors like those committed by Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, whose facility was not inspected for more than a decade.
Pro-life laws, education and outreach efforts through pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes and other organizations also are making an impact. They provide women with information to make an informed decision about her unborn child and offer support when she chooses to parent or make an adoption plan. The abortion industry is shrinking because more mothers are empowered to choose life for their babies.
The pro-life organization Operation Rescue also tracks abortion facility openings and closures. Its report, published earlier this year, found a similar trend.
According to its research, which includes Planned Parenthoods and independent abortion businesses, 40 abortion facilities closed or stopped doing abortions in 2018. The total number of abortion facilities in the U.S. was 697 at the time of publication.
The abortion industry has been shrinking rapidly since the 1990s. According to Operation Rescue, there were 2,176 surgical abortion facilities in 1991.
The number of unborn babies who are aborted every year also has been going down as more women choose life for their babies. The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control shows abortions dropped 24 percent in the past decade.
