Prayer credited for closing of abortion clinic [Eugene, OR]

EUGENE — The only abortion clinic in the southern half of Oregon has closed and pro-life leaders are crediting simple prayer.

The second-busiest abortion provider in the state — All Women’s Health Services — abruptly ceased Eugene operations July 16 eight years after a group of Catholics began holding weekly rosary vigils outside the building.

Directors said the decision was a business move intended to strengthen the organization’s Portland clinic.

But many say the somewhat mysterious closure may have come because of the Catholics who have come out every Saturday and many Wednesdays to pray for the pregnant women and the unborn children.

“I attribute the whole closure to their faithfulness in prayer and God answering it,” says Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life. “Obviously there was some business decision made, but when you get down to it, I am serious, I can’t think of any reason other than prayer. And in the end, fewer unborn children will be killed.”

Oregon Health Division statistics show no dip in demand for abortions in Lane County.

The small building is near the University of Oregon and students often were recruited to guide women from their cars to the clinic to avoid conversations with worshipers.

Father Richard Janowicz, pastor of Nativity Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Springfield, on occasion has joined the vigil at the clinic.

“This was unexpected and very encouraging,” the priest says of the shutdown. “The prayer out there, so consistently so regularly, made the difference. It was not a protest; it was prayer out front. It was really a prayerful caring.”

Those at the vigil would pray the rosary peacefully. Some would hand patients information about abortion alternatives and free ultrasound examinations. No one, Father Janowicz says, got belligerent.

Clinic operators often called police, who grew tired of making the trip to the clinic. Those at the vigils say they remained on the sidewalk, where they are allowed by law.

“It’s the rosary that made this happen,” says Norm Skarda, a member of St. Mary Parish who has helped organize the clinic vigils. “We are delighted.”

Skarda points out that the closure came on the day of the Marian feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Before the All Women’s Health Services vigils, the group met for prayer at another local abortion clinic. That one closed, too.

A couple that volunteered at the All Women’s Health Services was so moved by the abiding vigil in the past year that they stopped the work, joined the prayer, and are in the process of becoming Catholic.

Skarda and others troubled by abortion may not have long to rest. The group is discussing going north each week for a vigil at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Salem.

Also, Planned Parenthood officials are discussing the possibility of beginning abortions at its clinic in Eugene. They see the closure as leaving a gap in access. The Eugene clinic performed 1,400 abortions in 2001.

Those favoring legal abortions have long complained bitterly that the procedure is not available enough in Eugene. The charge is most often made against Sacred Heart Medical Center and its Catholic parent organization, PeaceHealth.

Eugene and Lane County have the most abortions of any county in the state, other than Portland and Multnomah County.

“This is going to limit options for women and further complicate their lives,” says Kitty Piercy, public affairs chief for Planned Parenthood Health Services of Southwestern Oregon.

Now, the only abortion clinics in Oregon are in Portland, Salem and Bend. But doctors in 10 Oregon counties reported to the state in 2000 that they opened their offices to perform abortions.

Jeanine Mudd, a nurse at 1st Way crisis pregnancy center in Eugene, says her organization was “very happy” to hear about the closure. Occasionally, sidewalk counseling or pamphlets handed out at All Women’s Health Services helped a woman change her mind and seek aid from 1st Way.

The organization then gave support, supplies, medical referral, adoption information and the free ultrasound exams.

“We have many ladies who are abortion-minded and once they see the ultrasound they decide against it,” Mudd says.