2,030 Babies Saved From Abortion in Ohio After Three Abortion Clinics Close Down
A new report from Ohio shows abortions there are at historic lows and 4,551 babies were saved by abortion in the last year alone after three Ohio abortion clinics either closed down or stopped doing abortions.
Today, the Ohio Department of Health released the 2014 Ohio Abortion Report, revealing an 8.7 percent drop in abortions in 2014. This marks the lowest level since 1976, when record-keeping first began, and is almost 25 percent lower than 2010 levels (28,123 abortions). The new Ohio health department report shows 21,186 abortions on unborn babies in 2014, which is down from 23,216 abortions in 2013 — showing 2,030 babies saved from abortions compared to the year before.
Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, told LifeNews.com that he credits new pro-life provisions in the state budget and the closing of three abortion clinics in 2014 for helping lower the number of abortions.
“While our work is not yet complete, it is comforting to know that our pro-life initiatives are working in Ohio,” he said. “More and more babies are alive today because of the leadership of Governor Kasich and our pro-life legislature. Ohio Right to Life will continue to advance its strategic legislative plan to help pregnant women and their children, both born and unborn. The nation continues to watch Ohio and learn from our collective efforts to hold the abortion industry accountable and to put women and their children first.”
In 2014, three abortion facilities closed across Ohio or stopped performing surgical abortions. Since 2010, half of the state’s abortion facilities have been been shuttered or closed voluntarily.
“Year by year, Ohio is sowing a culture of life–a culture that is literally saving thousands of unborn babies from the painful inhumanity that is abortion,” said Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life. “As more and more women choose life for their children, we’re seeing Planned Parenthood and the rest of the abortion industry pushed to the fringe of civil society. There’s no doubt in our minds that the culture of life is winning.”
The report also follows the death of a young black woman in Cleveland who had an abortion at an abortion clinic. The State Medical Board of Ohio has stunned pro-life supporters by dropping all complaints related to the death of abortion patient Lakisha Wilson.
In July, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed into law a pro-life state budget that funds pregnancy centers providing women with abortion alternatives and could close abortion clinics that can’t meet basic health and safety standards expected of legitimate medical centers.
According to ORTL, the budget also includes pro-life measures that could restrict abortion facilities. The first is an amendment that defines “local” following an abortion facility’s attempt to enter into a contract with an out-of-state hospital in order to stay open.
The second is a requirement that the Ohio Department of Health respond to a facility’s license application in reasonable time. Failure to approve the application within that time will result in the facility’s closure.
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The first provision could affect the last abortion facility in Toledo, Capital Care Network, which has remained open for almost a year following an order to close from the Ohio Department of Health. Recently, a Toledo judge ruled that the facility could remain open, determining that the 50 mile distance between the clinic and a Michigan hospital was acceptable for a transfer agreement. The second could affect Women’s Med Center in Kettering, an abortion facility whose variance request was rejected by ODH.
