Regions Hospital in St. Paul announced the end of abortion services just as the new Planned Parenthood mega-abortuary is set to open nearby. Abortions performed in Minnesota continues a steep downward trend.
-- From "St. Paul's Regions Hospital to discontinue abortions" by The Associated Press 11/25/11
Chris Boese, vice president of patient care at Regions, says women in Minnesota can turn to community-based providers for abortion services in a professional medical setting.
Hospital officials say the closing is consistent with its planning approach, and that medical care that can be provided in a nonhospital setting reduces overall costs.
Regions is part of HealthPartners. Last year the clinic performed 545 abortions.
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From "St. Paul's Regions Hospital to halt abortion services" by Christopher Snowbeck, Pioneer Press 11/25/11
[Regions Hospital's] GYN Special Services Clinic has seen a decline in procedures; it provided 902 abortions in 2000. It was the sixth-largest of seven clinic providers of abortions in the state last year, according to Health Department figures.
The number of abortions performed across Minnesota fell again in 2010, dropping the state's procedure rate to what could be an all-time low. There were 11,505 abortions in the state last year. In 2000, the total was 14,450.
Hospital spokesman Jeff Shelman said he would not comment on whether the hospital bowed to pressure from anti-abortion groups that have protested the service at Regions over the years.
The number of abortion providers in the United States has been declining steadily, according to a March report from researchers at the New York-based Guttmacher Institute. It peaked in 1982 at 2,900 facilities, according to the report, and fell to 1,800 by 2005. But the facility tally in the U.S. held steady from 2005 to 2008, the report found.
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From "Regions Hospital in St. Paul Minnesota Stops Doing Abortions" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 11/25/11
Scott Fischbach, the director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the statewide pro-life organization, told LifeNews the decision is wonderful, but said the good news is tempered by the fact that the Planned Parenthood abortion business is taking its place.
“Unfortunately, a new, larger Planned Parenthood abortion center is almost finished being built less than five miles from Regions,” he said. “Planned Parenthood also just expanded it’s abortion business by doing web-cam RU 486 abortions in Rochester, Minnesota.”
New statistics from the state health department in Minnesota show the number of abortions there have dropped once again to the lowest point since 1975, thanks in part to a program that provides help for pregnant women.
Abortion numbers fell for the fourth straight year in Minnesota, according to the latest report issued today from the Minnesota Department of Health. The decrease follows a trend of fewer abortions statewide since the Positive Alternatives program began in July 2006, funding efforts to help pregnant women in need.
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