March 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – More than 100 pro-life leaders are demanding that abortion clinics be shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are calling on governors to shut down abortion centers still operating in defiance of public health warnings as well as state and national health directives. While authorities have moved to shut down schools, businesses, and even churches, most abortion clinics remain open for business.
According to Mark Harrington of the Ohio-based pro-life group Created Equal, who helped spearhead the effort: “Every day, abortion facilities violently end the lives of thousands of human beings. And now, by refusing to close their doors as COVID-19 wreaks havoc across the nation, they are endangering the general public, too. Not only are these facilities consuming scarce personal protective equipment, they risk spreading COVID-19 throughout their state. Furthermore, abortionists themselves are not immune to COVID-19 and some, including one in Michigan, may have already contracted the disease. These facilities also put a burden on community EMTs and hospital ERs, should they have a medical emergency at one of their locations.”
In Ohio, the attorney general ordered health care providers to cease all “nonessential and elective surgical abortions” this weekend, highlighting federal guidelines released to address concerns that the ongoing pandemic will soon result in a shortage of hospital beds as well as personal protective equipment.
Abortion activists, predictably, have argued that abortion is an essential service because abortions are “time-sensitive.” This, presumably, is due to the fact that if an abortion is delayed long enough, the pregnancy is likely to result in the birth of a living baby. Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region responded by saying that they would continue offering abortions will working to “reduce the use of equipment in short supply.”
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One abortion activist even took the opportunity to call for the complete elimination of all abortion restrictions, tweeting last week that: “The absolute, most 100% PROLIFE thing we can do now is strip away all barriers to abortion immediately. It will save the lives of people who will try to self manage without safe meds. It will stop the spread of virus by cutting unnecessary travel. IT. IS. SAFE. MAKE. IT. LEGAL.”
Created Equal released a video today proving that abortion clinics are open across the country, and the website Stop the Spread Right Now highlights the fact that abortion clinics in Ohio are operating despite a cease-and-desist order that has been issued to all abortion clinics by the state’s attorney general.
Created Equal, Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, and other pro-life and pro-family groups have been working with Governor Mike DeWine as well as the Attorney General and the Ohio Department of Health to respond to the fact that abortion clinics were ignoring the directive sent out mandating that all elective surgeries must be stopped, and pro-life leaders from across the country are now joining the campaign to call on their leaders to shut abortion clinics down.
In fact, there is already one instance of an abortion clinic potentially contributing to the spread of COVID-19. According to John Barros, who has stood outside the Women’s Health Center in Orlando, Florida, for sixteen years offering help to the women arriving there to procure abortions: “This morning a worker here verified that they had done an abortion on a lady from a cruise ship that has the Corona virus yesterday [March 16]. She is so worried and shocked that they would do it for an extra $900. I couldn’t believe it really…” Barros, who has a friendly relationship with some of the clinic staffers, confirmed that he had been told twice that this had taken place, and that the staff was extremely concerned that the patient might have had the potentially deadly virus.
As this anecdote highlights, abortion clinics may become deadly places in more ways than one as they continue to defy government directives to close their doors. Their commitment to the destruction of pre-born human beings cannot be shaken—even by a pandemic.
This story is developing…
Jonathon’s new podcast, The Van Maren Show, is dedicated to telling the stories of the pro-life and pro-family movement. In his latest episode, he speaks with Alessandra Bocchi, who is currently in Rome, about what is actually happening on the ground in Rome and across Italy. Bocchi is from Lombardy, the hardest hit region of Italy, but is “stuck” in Rome due to the government’s requests that people not leave their current locations in order to stop the spread of the virus. The scene she shares is quite surreal.
You can subscribe here and listen to the episode below:
