Tag Archives: Harrisburg

Marking the Anniversary of an Abortion Center Closure

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Hillcrest

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.

Troubled Harrisburg Abortion Center Closed

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Hillcrest closed sign 2017

Photo credit: Undefeated Courage

By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

The sign on the door says it all—the troubled Hillcrest abortion facility in Harrisburg is closed until further notice.

The PA Department of Health ordered Hillcrest to suspend operations after a surprise inspection June 5th uncovered new safety violations.

“The department concluded that it was no longer safe for the facility to continue providing medical services to women,” said PA Health Department Secretary Karen Murphy

Several Pennsylvania state Senators recently sent a letter to the Secretary of the PA Department of Health, asking why the abortion center’s license had not been revoked.

The letter followed the release of a 44-page document noting the health and safety failures of the long-time abortion operation.

Violations included everything from failing to maintain proper medical credentials to maintaining supplies that were 13 years old. Hillcrest also performed a number of abortions without having a nurse present. In addition, staff members failed to undergo the criminal background checks mandated for seeing patients under 18 years old.

Hillcrest’s troubles date back at least six years, when the abortion outfit was first cited for safety failures. The abortion center has been cited four times since, with the latest report suggesting that the violations have become more egregious.

Pennsylvania passed a law in 2011 requiring abortion facilities to meet basic health and safety standards. The law was a response to the massive tragedy in West Philadelphia, where abortionist Kermit Gosnell was ultimately convicted of killing three full-term babies and causing the death of a female immigrant patient, Karnamaya Mongar.

 

3 Questions Lawmakers Should Ask Pa. Planned Parenthood

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By Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director

When pink t-shirted Planned Parenthood activists swarm the state Capitol in Harrisburg this coming week, they will likely be talking about “reproductive justice,” “women’s health,” and “family planning.”

PlannedParenthood1But chances are they will not be speaking about a number of aspects of their own annual report, which shows just how radical the nation’s number-one abortion performer is in terms of promoting abortion, minimizing adoption, and raking in the taxpayer dough.

The 2013 Planned Parenthood annual report showed the abortion giant committing more than 327,000 abortions. So much for the old pro-abortion mantra of keeping abortion safe, legal, and rare.

For every one adoption referral, Planned Parenthood performed 174 abortions. With that kind of average, the organization is may be a peak performer in the abortion business, but is a non-starter when it comes to promoting adoption.

Moreover, cries of underfunding seem particularly strange, when the non-profit devours more than a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money each year.

State lawmakers would be wise to ask Planned Parenthood officials some pointed questions, such as:

1.) Why are your abortion totals so high?
2.) Why are your adoption referrals so low?
3.) Why does a non-profit need half a billion dollars of our constituents’ hard-earned tax money?

The pink t-shirt parade cannot conceal the ugly truth that Planned Parenthood takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens each year…causes unspeakable pain for countless numbers of women…undermines adoption…and wastes hundreds of millions of tax dollars on an annual basis. Planned Parenthood Action Day is not a cause for celebration, but a reason for massive mourning.

Big Crowd Gathers for Inspiring Pro-Life Evening in Harrisburg

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Today is one of those rare days when I’m feeling exhausted and energized, inspired and tired. Last night was our 2014 Celebrate Life Banquet in Harrisburg, which drew 600 people from all across the state. IMG_1652

The evening was truly inspiring, and I’m not just saying that. I felt so encouraged to see pro-lifers from all across the state and all walks of life who gathered together in unity for our great cause – to protect and defend every human life from conception to natural death.

It takes a lot of work here in our office to put together our annual banquet. And though I’m still physically tired from the event, I’m also feeling energized by the enthusiasm and dedication of so many fellow pro-lifers.

Read local news coverage of the banquet here. And check back in later to read about our keynote speaker the Most Rev. Ronald Gainer, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, and his challenge to pro-lifers about how we can change our culture for life.

Bells to Toll in Harrisburg for 40th Anniversary of Abortion Ruling, Roe v. Wade

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Church bells throughout the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg will toll 40 times on Tuesday, January 22, to mark the somber 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the tragic U.S. Supreme Court decision which brought us the nightmare of abortion on demand for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy.

But for whom will the bells toll?

• The nameless victims who never got to see a rainbow…never got to feel the sun’s warmth, or a gentle mother’s kiss on their foreheads. It is estimated that there are more than 55 million of them now—black, Latino, Asian, Native American, white—all of them somebody’s child.

• The millions of mothers, many of them pressured by others, who were exploited by the profiteers of the abortion industry. Some lost their lives at the hands of their abortionists, others their health–witness the depravity and the disdain for women at abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s West Philadelphia abortion center, described by a grand jury as a House of Horrors. Watch the documentary series “3801 Lancaster” to hear testimonies from women butchered at Gosnell’s practice. And learn more about the brave witness of women who regret their abortions at http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/ .

• The millions of fathers, some of whom tried valiantly to save the lives of their children, only to be told they had no say in the matter. Find out more about their struggle at http://www.fatherhoodforever.org/ .

• The millions of brothers, sisters, and cousins who grew up in families where someone important was missing. College students can get involved by going to http://studentsforlife.org/ .

• The millions of grandparents who struggle to come to grips with the loss of the grandchildren they never knew. They can find healing at http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/ .

And yet, there is tragically more. The phrase “for whom the bell tolls” comes from a work by poet John Dunne:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

The church bells of Harrisburg will be tolling for each one of us, for, whether we knew these 55 million children or not, we have all been diminished by their deaths.