The pro-life movement has been celebrating the news of the closure of LeRoy Carthart’s late-term abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland. The closure is not only good news for mothers and unborn children, but is one with religious significance.
Fr. Peter West, a Catholic priest at St. John’s Church in Orange, New Jersey, commemorated the news over Facebook. For him, the date of August 26, when the closure was reported by LifeSiteNews.com, has significance.
The feast day of Our Lady of Czestochowa is celebrated on August 26, when Fr. West also brought the icon of her image to the abortion facility, which was frequently the site of prayer vigils and peaceful protests.
Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue, spoke to the Washington Post regarding the announced closure, which he said is another example of one in which they “forced them out of business.” Newman, and other pro-life activists, have been keeping an eye on Carhart’s facility since he began working there. “We were there the first day the dreadful Mr. Carhart showed up. And we are delighted to see him leave,” Newman said.
Upon closure, the facility is expected to be bought by the Maryland Coalition for Life, a group which frequently set up protests and vigils at the site, and which also opened a pregnancy center across the parking lot a year after Carhart opened his facility.
There have been conflicting reports about the future of Carhart’s business, however. On Thursday Carhart said that he was looking to open up a new facility elsewhere. Diana Philip, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, told the Washington Post that “I have spoken to Dr. Carhart and he is in the process of trying to get his facility operating. It will be the same clinic staff and they are hoping not to have any interruption in providing this service.”
As LifeSiteNews reported, however, abortionpages.com says that the Germantown Reproductive Health Services & Prince Georges Reproductive Health Services “Have BOTH Permanently CLOSED,” with original emphasis. The announcement on the closure puts it ahead of schedule. Although there is a statement about the lawful maintaining of patient medical records, and information on how patients can access them, there is no word about plans for a new facility expected to open in the fall.
Carhart’s facility was one of only three facilities willing to regularly perform late-term abortion. During the time he worked at the facility, which was for less than seven years, he had a history of patient injuries and deaths. Carhart was also featured in Live Action’s “Inhuman” series, a video investigative project into the late-term abortion industry, in which he describes the procedure he performs as “ike putting meat in a crock pot.”
Jennifer Morbelli was 29-years old when she and her unborn daughter died after a 33-week abortion performed at Carhart’s facility in 2013.