BETTENDORF, Iowa, October 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In a remarkable turn of events, a building that was once a Planned Parenthood facility is now home to a pro-life family clinic which provides support for pregnant women, new parents, and their families.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which committed abortions in the Bettendorf, Iowa building for nearly two decades, is gone, and the space has been taken over by Life & Family Medical Clinic and the Women's Choice Center.
The infamous abortion center was forced to close last year after the Iowa legislature moved to cut off state funding.
“Republicans who won control of the Statehouse after the 2016 election forfeited Medicaid funding for its family planning network, substituting state funds,” explained a report in the Quad City Times at the time of the real estate transaction last April. “The move allowed Iowa to prohibit funding from going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. About a week after the budget that included the change was signed, Planned Parenthood said it would close four clinics, including the Bettendorf location.”
Two decades of persistent prayer
Twenty years ago, “Pro-life advocates prayed fervently against construction of the facility and dropped religious medals into the earth on which it would be built,” according to an Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) report. “For the next two decades, they prayed unceasingly for closure of the clinic where abortions were performed.”
The prayers of the pro-life advocates have been answered.
After purchasing the facility, the new owners requested that a priest conduct an exorcism there because of its past use.
“What better way to salvage a building than to exorcise it and fill it completely with pro-life ministries?” asked one of the Life & Family board members, according to OSV. Following the exorcism, another board member said she “felt that God was in this place.”