Healthcare professionals have had to take every measure available to them to both protect themselves from the worldwide novel coronavirus and see to it that their patients are well-cared-for and have the medical aid they need. While several states have already closed all nonessential businesses, Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, and others have both decided to protect women and demand abortion clinics, also stop “nonessential and elective surgeries.”
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union have sued a handful of states to stop the orders. But abortion is not healthcare, and hundreds of abortion clinics are unsanitary — filthy, ideal locations for pandemics to spread. This is why all abortion clinics should be shuttered right now, for both the protection of women and those who work in the clinics.
The National Abortion Federation has it understands “that abortion isn’t a stroke or a heart attack, and it can be scheduled out. But it can’t be scheduled out indefinitely.” That’s accurate in that, at some point, the “pregnancy” becomes a born baby, right?
Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion vendor in the nation, have suggested it is a good idea to have healthcare workers “wear gloves, gowns, or masks if you have respiratory infection symptoms.” They have started asking for donations of these items as well, taking away resources for people who are in desperate need of them in hospitals.
So, why wasn’t it already their policy to wear gloves or masks? Because the abortion industry cares more about the bottom line than about its patients or its workers. I know because I worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years, rising to become the director of my clinic in Bryan, Texas.
Although we never dealt with a pandemic like what the world is currently facing, we were faced with difficult circumstances, like an oncoming hurricane and a lack of possible resources. And we always knew how to cut corners. That’s what happens across the country in abortion clinics today.
Abortion clinics are some of the dirtiest and grossest places for women who are in true need of help, according to state health department inspection records. Instead of getting the help they need, women are put in precarious situations, oftentimes with unqualified and untrained staff. That employee that’s giving a woman anesthesia may not even have a nursing license. That front desk employee may also be putting together baby parts after the abortion to make sure the doctor got everything out. That table the woman is sitting on may have a few rips and tears, or even bodily fluids — it’s a perfect place for spreading diseases. And those instruments used in abortions may not have been properly sanitized before being used on the next woman.
Abortion clinics do not provide essential services or healthcare. Abortion is not healthcare. According to Planned Parenthood’s own annual report, in the last 10 years, pap smear tests have decreased by 78%, contraception services by almost 33%, and breast exams by 68%. They also receive over half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding a year. Why doesn’t the Trump administration demand they donate personal protective equipment to hospitals that are caring for patients with the COVID-19 virus? After all, us taxpayers paid for those items already.
There are true resources for women in difficult circumstances with unplanned pregnancies who need help. Loveline is a ministry that I started last fall after seeing a gap that needed to be filled. There just wasn’t any kind of emotional and tangible support for women who needed immediate help, such as getting out of an abusive relationship, finding a place to live, and obtaining clothes and shelter. Since starting Loveline in October 2019, we’ve served 97 moms and 167 children and provided more than $40,000 in financial assistance for rent, utilities, and healthcare. Our supporters have provided over $80,000 in material assistance through online registries. This is real help, help that the abortion industry cannot provide because they are so focused on making money.
Those who work in the abortion industry are suffering, too. They are being forced to work in an environment that is not protecting them, by employers who don’t care about their own families and welfare. Why is Planned Parenthood just now getting around to talking about sanitation in their clinics? Because they and other abortion clinics would rather stack their waiting rooms full of women who want abortions than take the time to give women options, to properly clean instruments, and to make sure their facilities are up to the same standards that all other medical facilities must meet.
Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Iowa did the right thing in demanding abortion clinics, like other nonessential services, close in light of the state lockdown. Other states need to follow suit, or they are doing a horrible disservice to women in their state.
Abby Johnson is founder and director of And Then There Were None, author of Unplanned, and the subject of a 2019 film.
