Florida Abortion Facility Closes During 40 Days for Life

LifeSiteNews ^ | 11/6/09 | Thaddeus M. Baklinski

[wagglebee]

PENSACOLA, November 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last Friday, the 38th day of the autumn 40 Days for Life Campaign, the abortion facility at 6700 North 9th Avenue in Pensacola, Florida posted a 'Closed' sign on its door as pro-lifers prayed and kept vigil outside.

Ernie Cyr, the Pensacola 40 Days for Life coordinator, said the local 40 Days for Life team didn't even realize at the time what they were witnessing - the permanent closure of an abortion facility that had been in operation for more than 25 years.

Cyr explained that law enforcement officers went into the clinic on Friday to serve some legal papers, but no one really knew what was going on.

The following Monday, a simple legal notice appeared in the fine-print section of the local newspaper: "As of October 30th, 2009, The Community Health Center of Pensacola will be terminating its practice."

Further investigation revealed that the facility was licensed as a clinical laboratory for blood testing as well as an abortion clinic. However, an investigation by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) determined that the center's lab license had been expired for 413 days - a violation of state law. A retroactive fine of $1,000 per day was imposed, totaling $413,000.

"In lieu of paying the fine, the Community Health Center decided to shut down," said Tiffany Vause, AHCA press secretary.

Vause also said AHCA lawyers had offered the abortion facility a reduced fine as part of a settlement agreement, but they never received a response.

Ernie Cyr said that although the abortion centre staff refused to talk with TV reporters and no information is available on whether they intend to reopen the abortion center, the legal notice in the newspaper suggests that the closure is permanent.

"It's just a complete joy and what a blessing for our community to have this facility close," Cyr told WEAR-TV.

Bernadette Ensley, a University of West Florida student, and head of UWF's Students for Life group, said, "For this to up and close the last weekend of 40 Days for Life is really shocking and great!"

David Bereit, National Director of 40 Days for Life, commented on this latest abortion facility closure in his daily e-mail to 40 Days supporters.

"This now makes FIVE abortion centers CLOSED - facilities where people came to pray outside for an end to abortion during 40 Days for Life. Praise God indeed, for answering your prayers and the prayers of thousands of others!"

"This fall's campaign has been the most incredibly blessed 40 Days for Life effort yet," Bereit said. "There have been 571 lives spared from abortion that we know of this fall," he said. "There have been eight abortion industry employers who have left their jobs. … It's been a most eventful 40 days."

[wagglebee]

"This now makes FIVE abortion centers CLOSED - facilities where people came to pray outside for an end to abortion during 40 Days for Life. Praise God indeed, for answering your prayers and the prayers of thousands of others!"

Amen!

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life Ping

[GeronL]

One just opened in Dallas and its boss made no bones that they’re doing anything but killing unborn babies.

[wagglebee]

Moral Absolutes Ping!

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[05 Mustang GT Rocks]

Praise be to God Almighty!

[blueyon]

Praise God

[victim soul]

ALLELEUIA!!

ALLELEUIA!!

ALLELEUIA!!

May this encourage us all to stand in prayer and witness outside America’s killing centers and maybe God will hear our prayer and set us free from this Culture of Death.

Thanks to all who do.

[Eagle Eye]

Way cool!

I’ve stood outside this clinic several times with the local Catholic protesters.

Had the cops hassle me for parking across the street to eat lunch and pray for the protesters. They said my presence made someone in the clinic uncomfortable.

This is really a great day!

But there are other clinics in town.

[cpforlife.org]

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

Life begins at conception—NOT birth.
Birth is one day in the life of a person who is already nine months old.

[Salvation]

WooHoo! Another killing house closes!

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Eugene abortion clinic closes; surprising many (Hooray !!!)
Prayer credited for closing of abortion clinic [Eugene, OR]
Planned Parenthood will shut down 3 clinics [Indiana]
Persevering Students Help Close Abortion Clinic [Santa Paula, CA--Thomas Aquinas College]

Abortion Clinic Managers Quit After Being Outed by Operation Rescue [Wichita, Kansas]
One Man's God Squad: Troy Newman's plan to stop abortions in Wichita, Kansas
Baby Saved From Abortion is Baptized [New Orleans]
Thank You Bishop Rhoades: A Personal Account of An Abortion Protest With A Catholic Bishop -- still praying -- Harrisburg, PA
Judges rule civil suits against Planned Parenthood can proceed [Los Angeles, CA]

STOPP Planned Parenthood
CA: Abortion opponents hope to limit access for California girls (Prop 73)
Jill Stanek's Accurate Summary of Cincinnati Abortion Center Closing: 'Debi Does Ohio"
Clinic is caught in the fog of abortion war (Abortion Clinic Closes) [Springfield, Missouri]
PBS program looks at Mississippi's last abortion clinic

Former abortion clinic ‘resurrected’ as Catholic chapel [Buffalo, NY]
Health Department suspends license of Montgomery abortion clinic [Alabama]
Abortion center ordered to close: East Side clinic cited with violations [Cleveland, Ohio]
Yet another abortionist can't stand heat, quits [Daytona Beach, Forida]
Controversial Chicago Abortion clinic closing

Planned Parenthood closes clinic after clinic
Planned Parenthood to close Longview clinic (WA)
State shuts abortion clinic over health risks [Englewood, New Jersey]
Atlantic City abortion clinic shut for violations [New Jersey]
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Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas, [TX] To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics
New York Abortion Clinic Closes Today; Was site of 40 Days for Life Vigil [200 East Eckerson Road in New City, N.Y}
Planned Parenthood Abortion Center [Temporarily] Closes Instead of Following New Law [Sioux Falls, SD]
[South Dakota] Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Closes Instead of Following New Law [Sioux Falls]
Abortion Provider Closes Doors Instead of Obeying Laws, Old Media Silent [Sioux Falls, SD]

Planned Parenthood Lays Off SD Director
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Planned Parenthood Out of Texas Panhandle: STOPP Plan Ousts Abortion Chain from Amarillo
Abortion facility to close following 40 Days for Life campaign [Orange Co. CA]
"We have a problem with financing Planned Parenthood” (Orange County supervisor)

“They’re nothing more than a baby-killing organization” ( No funding to Planned Parenthood ) [Orange and San Bernadino Counties, CA]
Monroe, Washington Planned Parenthood Center Closes Over Tough Economy
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Tiller Clinic To Close Permanently [Wichita, KA]
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El Paso loses 7 abortion centers
Number of Abortion Centers Nationwide Falling, Pro-Abortion Legal Group Says

Indiana Planned Parenthood Closes Five Centers After Hiding Abortion-Sex Abuse
Planned Parenthood closing in Kirksville, MO
[Pensacola] Florida Abortion Facility Closes During 40 Days for Life

[myknowledge]

[cyn]

simply and wonderfully awesome...

[wardaddy]

surprised Escambia county even had one...God’s country

I think they have all left Mississippi..

[Salvation]

Today's email about this:

There is a REALLY BIG announcement at the end of this
message -- that you won't want to miss -- but first I
have to share the breaking news...

Just when you think it can't get any better, it does!

I stand today in wonder at the awesome power of God,
as one miracle follows on the heels of another
miracle, which follows on the heels of yet another!

Here's the latest ...

For at least 25 years, there's been an abortion
facility at 6700 North 9th Avenue in Pensacola,
Florida. But last Friday -- Day 38 of the fall
40 Days for Life campaign -- as people prayed
outside, the clinic CLOSED ITS DOORS and shut down!

The local 40 Days for Life team didn't even realize
it at the time. Ernie Cyr, the Pensacola coordinator,
heard reports that law enforcement officers went into
the clinic on Friday to serve some legal papers, but
no one really knew what was going on.

Then on Monday, a simple legal notice appeared in the
fine-print section of the local newspaper: "As of
October 30th, 2009, The Community Health Center of
Pensacola will be terminating its practice."

Ernie's two-word response? "Praise God!"

A local TV news team did some digging, and last night
their top story reported what they discovered. The
clinic operated a lab, and that lab required a state
license. The owners had a license at one time, but
the news report documented that it expired 413 days
ago. And that's something state investigators became
aware of only recently.

The clinic was given a choice: pay a huge fine or
close down. The fine is $1,000 a day -- for each of
the 413 days the lab was without a license -- which
came to a whopping $413,000!

The clinic could not come up with the money ... and
was left with only one choice: CLOSE.

State officials told WEAR-TV that they had offered
the abortion facility a reduced fine as part of a
settlement agreement -- but they never received a
response. The abortion center staff would not talk
with the TV reporters for comment, but the legal
notice in the newspaper certainly suggests that the
closure is permanent.

God works in mysterious -- and wonderful -- ways!

Now, I do have to tell you that this clinic had been
the target of senseless violence in the past -- a
bombing in 1984 and two murders in 1994.

Because of that, many of the pro-life people in
Pensacola quit coming out and opted to pray for the
unborn at home or at church -- or avoided pro-life
efforts completely.

Although some stalwart Christian witnesses kept up
their heroic efforts through the years, prayer
presence at this clinic had drastically diminished
because of the things that had happened.

Bottom line: the violence did not stop the abortions.

And, it drove away the very people who could have
been part of the solution to the abortion crisis.

But God had other plans. A young couple named Ernie
and Mary Beth moved to Pensacola a few years ago and
were not fully aware of the past history of the area.
They heard about 40 Days for Life during a "Being
Human" episode on EWTN and decided to conduct a local
campaign -- and then another, and then another.

It hasn't always been easy, but throughout the three
local 40 Days for Life campaigns over these last two
years, Ernie and Mary Beth Cyr have seen more and
more people coming back out to pray at the clinic,
PEACEFULLY asking God to end abortion there.

And He did!

The TV news story reported the observable facts about
a Florida health agency that took action against an
unlicensed facility -- but it also featured Ernie
saying, "It's just a complete joy and what a blessing
for our community to have this facility close."

During the news report, Bernadette Ensley -- a
University of West Florida student, and head of UWF's
Students for Life group -- said it best: "For this to
up and close the last weekend of 40 Days for Life is
really shocking and great!"

Watch the video of the TV news story at:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=523

This now makes FIVE abortion centers CLOSED --
facilities where people came to pray outside for an
end to abortion during 40 Days for Life.

Praise God indeed, for answering your prayers and the
prayers of thousands of others!

[wagglebee]

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