More good news: Abortion clinics closing nationwide

When the public ain't buyin' what you're sellin', it's time to close up shop. Abortion on demand is the sacrament of radical feminism. But the demand for abortion is dwindling and so, therefore, is the supply of abortion providers. Gotta love that free market economy!

The recent closing of a Washington state abortion clinic may be a reflection of a national drop in the demand for abortion among women ages 15 to 44.

Feminist Women’s Health Center, one of two abortion clinics in Yakima, Wash., closes its doors today after 31 years. A drop in clients prompted the clinic’s closure.

“There isn’t the patient volume for two main providers,” founder Beverly Whipple told the Yakima Herald- Republic.

Skip Schoff, vice president of Christian Broadcasting of Yakima praised the closing saying, “I couldn’t be happier.” He also told the publication that he is praying for the closure of every abortion clinic in America.

Public opinion suggests abortion is increasingly unpopular among Americans. A Gallup poll released in May 2009 found that 51 percent of Americans called themselves “pro-life” on issues of abortion, compared to 42 percent of those who considered themselves “pro-choice.”

In announcing their findings, the Gallup organization said it was the first time a majority of U.S. adults had identified themselves as pro-life since they began asking the abortion question in 1995.

State and national statistics also offer evidence that more Americans have an unfavorable view of abortion.

State health department statistics show that Washington women are having fewer abortions. The reported rate of abortions among women of childbearing age, 15 to 44, was 16.7 for every 1,000 women in 2009. That’s down from 18 per 1,000 women in 2008.

Among Washington adolescents, abortion in 2009 was down to 17 per 1,000 teenage girls aged 15 to 19. In 2008 there were 19 abortions per 1,000 teenage girls.

Similar dips have been seen in national abortion statistics. In a report of abortion trends from 1974 to 2004, reproductive health policy group the Alan Guttmacher Institute found that the recent rate of abortions for women ages 15 to 44 has dropped 33 percent to 20 abortions per 1,000 women from its height of 29 abortions in 1980.

According to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of abortions between 1997 and 2006 declined nearly nine percent compared to the previous ten years.

"I do see from everything I see and read that Americans are turning away from abortion," said Cathy Ruth, senior fellow of legal studies at the Family Research Council.

Ruth believes this trend is a response to post abortive women speaking up, the partial-birth abortion debate and increased access to ultrasound images. Ruth quotes pregnancy center CareNet in a study stating that 80 percent of near-abortion patients changed their minds after seeing an ultrasound.

"An ultrasound image brings you face to face with humanity," said Ruth.

The drop in abortions has meant a drop in business for abortion clinics. The National Coalition of Abortion Providers says independent clinics are struggling to compete with Planned Parenthood. However, Planned Parenthood has also had to close some branches.

Just two months ago, Planned Parenthood of Lawrence, Kansas, closed its doors. A notice in the window of the widow read, “It appears the need for our services is not as great as it once was and it is no longer financially feasible to continue offering those services. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause you.”

Despite news of decreased abortions, AGI CEO and President Sharon L. Camp has warned that the reduction in abortions is not even across age, race and economic groupings.

“Many Americans will welcome the news that there are fewer abortions, particularly among teens," said Camp in a 2008 statement.

"But at the same time, abortions are becoming more concentrated among women of color and low-income women,” she countered.

The CDC’s findings also report high abortion rates among women in their early 20s.

Kansans for Life President Kathy Ostrowski says young women need to get help from their families and pro-life physicians.

“We recommend pregnant women of any age consult the Pregnancy Care Center of Lawrence where they can obtain physician-reviewed ultrasounds and assistance for a variety of needs,” stated Ostrowski.

Meanwhile, Whipple said Feminist Women’s Health Center will continue to host events and answer health questions over the phone even after it closes.

Bernard Madoff May Be a Hero When It's All Said and Done

First, we learned that the three largest abortion providers in America, including Panned Parenthood, were facing serious financial problems after one of their cash cows, the Picower Foundation, was wiped out by the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme. Now, it turns out that Picower and another Madoff victim, JEHT, were also bankrolling the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Don't let the euphoria over Obama fool you. Liberal activism may be headed for some hard times.

The American Civil Liberties Union, impacted by the unfolding economic crisis, laid off ten percent of its national workforce this week. Thirty-six staffers lost their jobs, including five in the Washington, D.C. legislative office, a source familiar with the firings told the Huffington Post.

A source in the ACLU's Washington office confirmed that there had been layoffs, but couldn't confirm the details. The ACLU has two separate Washington offices: a local branch that works on District of Columbia issues and an arm of the national ACLU, which works on legislative issues. The layoffs impacted the legislative office -- though the District office is not necessarily immune to a budget shortfall.

The loss of the staffers means a likely reduction in influence for the civil liberties organization just as Democrats begin to push a legislative agenda as ambitious as any since the mid-sixties. Liberal advocacy organizations have been hit hard across the board by the economic downturn, as donations have fallen off and returns from investments have gone negative.

UDPATE: Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, issued a statement to the Huffington Post explaining the layoffs. Two foundations that had heavily backed the ACLU were wiped out by fraudulent hedge-fund manager Bernard Madoff.

UPDATE II: Sources familiar with the ACLU's situation say that the two major foundations were the JEHT and Picower Foundations, which were wiped out by Madoff. Another major ACLU donor, Peter Lewis, has also been pounded by the economic crisis. Lewis' centrality to the funding of progressive organizations is hard to overstate. The name of the ACLU's Washington office is "The Peter B Lewis Center for Civil Liberties."

Bernard Madoff and Genesis 50:20

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 50:20

New York, Jan 9, 2009 / 06:09 am (CNA).- Fallout from the exposure of investment manager Bernard Madoff’s massive $50 billion Ponzi scheme threw many individuals and charities into financial distress. The fraud has also deprived funding from several pro-abortion rights groups and projects.

The Florida-based Picower Foundation, listed as the 71st-largest in the nation by the Council on Foundations, claimed assets of $1 billion, the New York Times reports. It was forced to close in December due to financial problems with its assets, which were managed by Madoff.

Reportedly distributing about $70 million in grants between 2004 and 2007, the Picower Foundation describes its national grant making as covering areas of “education, medical innovation and an equitable and inclusive society.”

The non-profit networking web site Idealist.org reports: “The Foundation’s efforts to achieve a more equitable and inclusive society consists of supporting projects in human rights, reproductive rights and Jewish continuity.”

Slate.com blogger Nancy Goldstein on Wednesday reported that abortion advocacy groups are facing financial shortfalls because of the Picower Foundation’s collapse.

“Picower was one of a handful of foundations willing to stick their necks out and significantly fund the three organizations that handle virtually all major reproductive rights-related litigation and legal advocacy in the United States,” the pro-abortion rights Goldstein wrote. “Now the Center for Reproductive Rights needs to make up a $600,000 shortage in 2009; Planned Parenthood is out $484,000; the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project is off $200,000.”

Carlos Polo, director for Latin America at the Population Research Institute, has linked the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) to a strategy to force permissive abortion laws upon Latin America.

Members of CRR have proposed using international litigation to “develop new standards for the protection of reproductive rights” and to force local authorities to ignore their country’s laws and introduce changes that would allow abortion and “reproductive health” services for teenagers.

In November, former CRR lobbyist and New York lawyer Melody C. Barnes was appointed to become President-elect Barack Obama’s Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

The ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project authored the 2002 report “Religious Refusals and Reproductive Rights.” Characterizing the expansion of Catholic hospitals as a “growth in the sectarian health system,” the report advocated restricting the ability of Catholic hospitals and other institutions to refuse to perform procedures they find objectionable, such as sterilizations or abortions.

“The law should not permit an institution’s religious strictures to interfere with the public’s access to reproductive health care,” the report’s executive summary argued. Though granting that medical professionals should be allowed to opt-out of procedures to which they object, the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project insisted that they must cooperate in giving “complete and accurate information” and in making “appropriate referrals.”

“We reject the imposition of religious doctrines on those who do not share them, especially at the expense of the public health,” the report said, arguing that concerns for individual religious belief and institutional religious worship should be “balanced” with protections for “reproductive health,” patient autonomy, and “gender equality.”

Recently, the Reproductive Freedom Project has advocated limiting the ability of pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives. It also has attacked new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rules reinforcing medical professionals’ and medical institutions’ conscience protection guarantees provided by federal law.