British pro-life advocates are ringing in the new year with good news.
The oldest abortion facility in the UK closed for good in December after decades of prayer and peaceful advocacy on behalf of mothers and their babies, according to the March for Life UK.
The Calthorpe Clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, aborted unborn babies for 50 years and put the lives of countless mothers in jeopardy. Pro-life advocates said it closed at the end of December, though the report did not give a reason why.
Rachel Mackenzie, a pro-life sidewalk counselor and former patient of the abortion facility, rejoiced at the news. She now runs a local Rachel’s Vineyard program to help post-abortive women.
“I am so relieved that no more children will have their lives ended here as my son once did,” Mackenzie said.
The abortion facility opened in 1969, becoming the first facility dedicated to aborting unborn babies in the UK, the pro-life organization stated. In recent years, government reports indicate it was one of the most prolific abortion facilities in England, doing about 10,000 abortions per year.
But through 40 Days for Life and other efforts, pro-life advocates have helped at least 100 mothers choose life for their babies outside the facility in the past eight years, according to the report.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, campaign director of 40 Days for Life in Birmingham, said she remembers the day when a woman approaching them with a toddler in a stroller.
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“For a long time I’ve been meaning to come this way to say thank you,” Vaughan-Spruce said the woman told them. “My daughter came here three years ago to have an abortion but changed her mind after seeing you. She never told anyone on the day why she left but I want to say thank you because without you my grandchild wouldn’t be here.”
The abortion facility had a long history of unethical and dangerous practices. In 2012, The Telegraph caught one of its abortionists, Dr Palaniappan Rajmohan, agreeing to perform an illegal sex-selection abortion on an unborn baby girl. Then, a year later, its staff was accused of failing to report the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Here’s more from the report:
In November 2000 when operating as a private centre, one of the abortionists there, Dr Andrew Gbinigie caused horrific injuries, on his first day at work, to a young woman seeking an abortion. Whilst performing the operation on the 21 year old he tore a hole in her womb, removed an ovary, ripped away part of a kidney and pulled down a piece of her bowel before questions from the assisting theatre nurse eventually caused him to realise his catalogue of mistakes. The suffering woman needed five hours of emergency surgery to save her life. Father of 3 Dr Gbinigie was found guilty of professional misconduct but was kept on the register, still being allowed to practice under certain conditions.
A further 35 women eventually came forward claiming to have suffered at the hands of the abortionist. 15 of these women gave evidence but Dr Gbinigie was still allowed to keep his place on the medical register.
All across the world, abortion facilities are closing as more women choose life for their unborn babies.
A recent report from the pro-abortion Abortion Care Network found that almost one third of all independent abortion facilities in the United States have closed since 2012. Meanwhile, few new abortion facilities are opening.
The pro-life organization Operation Rescue also tracks abortion facility openings and closures. Its 2019 report found a similar trend. According to its research, 40 abortion facilities closed or stopped doing abortions in 2018. The total number of abortion facilities in the U.S. was 697 at the time of publication.
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Author: Micaiah Bilger
