Pro-lifers celebrate as abortions stopped for lack of doctors

The backlash from a series of videos showing clinicians discussing how to harvest the body parts of aborted babies has left one area of the US without medical staff prepared to carry out the controversial procedures.

No clinics in the northeastern area of Wisconsin can carry out abortions and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s offices in Grand Chute, the last facility still operational is suspending the procedures for the next six months. It said its office and another clinic in nearby Appleton will remain open to dispense contraceptive advice.

Green Bay Bishop David L. Ricken prayed on hearing the news "that this place may remain closed forever so that innocent lives are spared and mothers and fathers may find the true gift and blessing of the perpetual commitment in marriage".

Bishop Ricken also offered prayers for others connected with the Grand Chute facility.

"We understand and pray for those who have been associated with this clinic," he told The Compass local newspaper. "We pray most especially for the mothers and fathers of the innocent children whose lives were taken there. As a church, we extend to them the mercy of Jesus.

“We pray for those 'medical' personnel who have performed abortions in this clinic that their minds might receive light and understanding of the gravity of taking the life of another human being, especially one who is voiceless, defenseless and innocent."

Planned Parenthood, an organisation that carries out abortions and offers advice on short-term and permanent contraception, has been under a cloud after videos emerged of physicians and other members of the organisation describing the harvesting and selling of fetal tissue and the body parts of aborted babies.

A number of states have already begun the process of cutting Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood patients and the House of Representatives voted last week to suspend federal funding of Planned Parenthood for a year, but the Senate still needs to take up the bill. The House also appointed a new panel to investigate Planned Parenthood.

In Wisconsin, pro-life leader Heather Weininger noted that the Grand Chute action "is not the first time such a 'problem' for the abortion industry has come up. Last year, the abortionist for Milwaukee's largest abortion facility lamented that he couldn't re tire because there was no one to take his place."

Last year saw a drop of 10 per cent in the number of abortions in Wisconsin, to the delight of protestors at Grand Chute (CNS)

Last year, the number of abortions in Wisconsin fell to the lowest levels since records started in 1977, four years after the Supreme Court made abortion legal in the US.

While calling it "lamentable" that Planned Parenthood intends the suspension to be temporary, Weininger, who is executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, added: "This whole situation is really quite telling: When the rubber meets the road, when it comes to the point when someone must truly act on their 'pro-choice' views, very few can actually go through with the killing of an unborn child."

Gail Hjortness, who heads the 40 Days for Life in Appleton campaign said: "It's been pretty exciting that they aren't doing abortions there."

The last abortions to take place at the Grand Chute facility was on 29 September, she added.

Dan Miller, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, also expressed hope that the facility will "stay closed forever".

"Faithful pro-lifers' prayers have been answered after 43 years in the desert," Miller added, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court companion decisions - Roe vs Wade that legalised abortion virtually on demand in the United States.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, pro-life leaders announced the permanent closure of a Chicago abortion clinic that had been the focus of 27 years of community objection, led by the Pro-Life Action League. The clinic also had been sued over the years by family members of women who died while getting an abortion there. One was a 13-year-old girl, Deanna Bell, who died during an abortion in September 1992.