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GERMANTOWN, Maryland, March 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life groups have rented an office space directly across the parking lot from LeRoy Carhart’s new late-term abortion business in Germantown, Md.

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Operation Rescue and the Maryland Coalition for Life announced today that the office will act as a resource and referral center for vulnerable and needy pregnant and post-abortive women, and will be used as a place of prayer for pro-life supporters.

The Maryland Coalition for Life will be coordinating efforts with local pregnancy care centers and a nearby physician who has offered to provide free ultrasounds to abortion-vulnerable women.

After Carhart was forced out of Nebraska by a new law that banned abortions after the point at which an unborn child can feel pain, the abortionist was hired last December to do late-term abortions at Germantown Reproductive Health Services. Since then, pro-life groups had worked behind the scenes to secure the office and have helped organize protests and provide training to area activists.

“Locating an office like this across from the most notorious late-term abortionist in the country was a high priority for us,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We wanted to do more than just ask women not to abort their babies. We wanted to provide them with practical assistance, spiritual guidance, and true friendship so that abortion would no longer be a consideration. This office will do all of that.”

The new pro-life center will not be a place where protests and pickets take place, said Operation Rescue, but will focus on helping women and on prayer.

Nonetheless, they said hundreds of pro-life supporters will continue to maintain a peaceful presence on the public sidewalk where the two offices are located.

“This Center is going to have a profound impact on Germantown by offering women a life-affirming alternative directly across the parking lot from Carhart’s late-term abortion mill. The churches and the community of Germantown have really come together to make this a reality,” said Michael Martelli, Executive Director of Maryland Coalition for Life.

The Maryland Coalition for Life plans to move into the new office on April 2, 2011.

Donations are being accepted to help with the expenses of starting the new project. The Center’s donation page is here.