Planned Parenthood revealed that they would close an infamous abortion mill in Manhattan, a move that was celebrated by Christians but reflects shifting priorities for the abortion entity.
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York will sell their property at 26 Bleecker Street, the hub for the broader Planned Parenthood of Greater New York Manhattan Health Center, and will instead redirect resources toward other facilities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.
The organization said that “social and political obstacles and structural challenges” within the healthcare system provoked the decision, especially as costs increase amid stagnant income.
The abortion mill at 26 Bleecker Street has been murdering babies for almost four decades. Planned Parenthood of Greater New York chief executive Wendy Stark said that the move to sell the building was “an emotional decision” since the facility “has always been a special place.”
Planned Parenthood announced the sale of 26 Bleecker Street amid recent reports of lawsuits over botched abortions, elevated staff turnover, and lackluster conditions in the facilities. The broader abortion landscape in the United States has also shifted toward the abortion pill, with more women choosing to self-manage their abortions rather than use the medical system.
Lisa Washington, the city director for Love Life New York City, said in an interview with The Sentinel that the Christian anti-abortion ministry celebrates the closure of 26 Bleecker Street, but that they will allocate resources elsewhere in New York City amid the unveiled changes.
“For nearly thirty-five years, thousands upon thousands of innocent children have been brutally destroyed at 26 Bleecker Street, and at least forty-one known women have been injured during abortions,” she commented. “I am relieved to know that soon this will no longer be the case.”
Washington said that she and other Love Life volunteers have “personally witnessed” women taken out of Planned Parenthood by ambulance “who were injured by surgical abortions.”
Washington noted that her own connection to abortion is deeply personal, since she was at risk of abortion when she was a preborn baby, and since she had an abortion when she was a teenager before trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation nearly a decade later.
“As the youngest of nine children, God providentially spared me from abortion,” Washington recounted to The Sentinel. “Then as a broken teenage girl, I had a devastating two-day second trimester abortion that left me shattered in many ways. I battled with low-grade depression, self-loathing, guilt, shame, and unexplainable health issues for about twelve years, so I know firsthand the devastating impact abortion has on women and their preborn children.”
Washington also noted that “as an African-American woman born and raised in Manhattan, I know abortion disproportionately impacts the black community more than any other ethnic group, mainly due to the specific racial targeting of Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger.”
The majority of Planned Parenthood facilities are located in black and Hispanic communities, while black babies are significantly more likely to be aborted than born in New York City.
Love Life New York City, which has engaged in “peaceful sidewalk outreach and prayer” for six years outside of abortion mills while sharing the gospel and practical resources with mothers and fathers, has seen nearly 250 women choose life and has hosted baby showers for many.
Washington said that staff and volunteers will continue to minister outside of 26 Bleecker Street until that facility closes. They established a team in Queens last year, where ten volunteers minister consistently at two abortion mills, while Love Life New York City is likewise “in the process of trying to make connections with solid churches in the Bronx and Brooklyn so we can establish outreach, prayer, and evangelism teams in those boroughs as soon as possible.”
Washington added that many Christians in New York City tend to be “very apathetic to the issue, or they see it as a political matter to avoid rather than a deep moral crisis to be engaged.”
“We need to start putting our faith into action as the Bible tells us to by praying more for all involved in abortion and becoming educated on the tragic truth about abortion,” she added.
Washington encouraged other believers toward “graciously sharing the truth of God’s Word about the sanctity of life in our spheres of influence, encouraging our pastors to speak about abortion from the pulpit, giving and serving in practical ways those faced with unwanted pregnancies, and above all loving our neighbors, both the preborn and the born, as ourselves.”
“If we commit to doing these key fundamental tenets of Christianity, then God by his Spirit will change many hearts and minds,” Washington commented to The Sentinel. “Subsequently, laws and policies will change, and we will shift from a culture of death to a culture of life.”
