"We 100 percent plan to stay open," one abortion center in Northeast Ohio vowed. Well, not if pro-lifers have anything to do with it. National leaders from FRC to SBA List and more are doing everything they can to stop groups like Planned Parenthood from profiting in a time of coronavirus -- even if it means asking the Trump administration to intervene.
"While we are in a hectic race to save lives, Planned Parenthood and other powers in the abortion industry remain insistent on taking the lives of innocent unborn children," a coalition of more than 50 pro-life leaders wrote to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. "While surgery centers postpone elective and diagnostic procedures, abortion centers are churning out surgical and chemical abortions and putting women, especially the poor, at risk. Their continued operation depletes sorely needed personal protective equipment and leads to complications that will further overwhelm already overextended emergency rooms."
It's time, we wrote, to stop the abortion industry from "compounding one crisis with another." In states like Texas and Ohio, where governors have put the brakes on elective abortions, the message was clear: it's time for everyone, including the Planned Parenthoods of America, to "cease operations and join healthcare providers in donating their [personal protective equipment] and other equipment to coronavirus response."
Already, some parts of the industry have been putting women at risk by nudging them toward chemical abortions, which, as FRC's Patrina Mosley warns, are almost as dangerous as back-alley abortions. The last thing we need is to tie up hospitals with life-threatening complications from drugs like mifepristone. If the Trump administration would agree to put abortions of every kind on hold, not only is the health industry spared, but mothers who -- without a doubt -- will need "follow-up care, including infection treatment and transfusions, from the nation's emergency care centers and hospitals."
It's time to follow the lead of places like Mississippi, whose leaders insist: "We'll take whatever action we need to protect not only the lives of unborn children but also the lives of anyone who may contract this particular virus."