By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

This is definitely an anniversary worth celebrating.

It has been nearly a year since the troubled Hillcrest abortion facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania permanently shut its doors after decades of operation.

And the city is still standing.

I mention that because abortion advocates routinely issue dire predictions when an abortion center is in danger of closing. While it is true that, sadly, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation, continues to perform abortions in Harrisburg, it is also true that the city is better off without Hillcrest.

Still, even after Pennsylvania Health Department inspectors uncovered 44 pages’ worth of health and safety violations at the abortion center, they did not immediately move to shutter the facility. It was only after dedicated pro-lifers made the safety report known to the press–and determined state Senators demanded Hillcrest’s closing–that regulators temporarily closed it. Some weeks later, the facility gave up its license to perform abortions in the Keystone State.

Women in Harrisburg are safer with the closing of Hillcrest. And precious preborn babies have been spared a cruel fate inside Hillcrest’s walls. But Hillcrest’s history shows the abortion industry cannot be trusted to police itself–even when health violations are as plain as the two-feet high unmowed grass that surrounded Hillcrest during its final months.