In 2020, abortion facilities continued the trend of closing or halting abortions, according to pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue. The pro-life organization released Part I of its nationwide survey, with promising results.
“Today, there are a total of 706 U.S. abortion facilities, down a total of four facilities over last year,” writes OR. “This marks a return to the downward trend in numbers of abortion facilities nationwide after a slight uptick in 2019 due to an expansion in chemical abortion facilities.”
The group also noted that “the number of surgical abortion clinics has fallen each year for at least the past decade from 713 in 2009 to a record low of 458. That represents a decrease of 255 surgical facilities — 36 percent – over the past ten years.” This marks a 79% drop overall in surgical facilities. The number of surgical abortion clinics continues to decline, reports OR, with six fewer today than last year at this time. Yet abortion facilities which offer only the abortion pill regimen continue to be on the rise, with a 47% increase over the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, Missouri is the first state in the country have no facility currently committing abortions. While the scandal-ridden Reproductive Health Services Planned Parenthood in St. Louis remains open, it is referring patients to the Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood facility in Illinois. This was confirmed directly to Live Action News with a call to the St. Louis facility. By sending patients to the Illinois facility, Planned Parenthood can circumvent Missouri’s pro-life restrictions, including an abortion waiting period.
READ: Report: In under a decade, one-third of independent abortion facilities have shut down
This abortion facility is notorious for its lack of safety, with at least 74 known women injured there, and one woman almost killed. Four women had the body parts of aborted babies left inside them, and when the facility was committing abortions, one woman was sent by ambulance to the hospital every six weeks on average. The facility had a record of a large number of health and safety violations, including not washing hands between glove changes, improperly removing soiled medical instruments, and violating infection protocol, with blood and rust left on abortion tables and equipment. A Missouri Senate review found even more problems.
The woman who was almost killed suffered a horrifically botched abortion. Operation Rescue obtained the 62-page report, which revealed that the abortionist committed an abortion, even though the woman’s placenta was partially covering the cervical opening. The woman severely hemorrhaged and was transferred to the hospital, where she was determined to have lost over two liters of blood. Hospital staff said she was “critically ill,” and required a uterine artery embolization to treat her uncontrolled bleeding.
“There is no operational abortion facility in the State of Missouri, making it the first Abortion-Free State at this time,” Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said in a statement. “It is obvious that Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, which operates RHSPP, seeks to avoid having to comply with Missouri’s strong pro-life laws, and has opted to abort in Illinois where abortion facilities are essentially unaccountable. This shows a gross disrespect for the lives and safety of the women Planned Parenthood purports to serve.”
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