{"id":34644,"date":"2025-08-17T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=34644"},"modified":"2025-08-17T01:53:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T01:53:55","slug":"last-friday-there-were-none","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/last-friday-there-were-none\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Friday, there were none"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: John Madigan, originally published July 28, 2025, Crisis Magazine<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent wave of Planned Parenthood clinic closures may not be from a decline in abortions, but a move to self-managed home abortions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most weeks,<\/strong> I spend an hour or so standing on a public right-of-way facing a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic. I pray the Rosary and hope that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that I hold might touch the heart of a client or worker entering that office a few parking spots away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a small storefront. They don\u2019t do surgical abortions there.  But they have done a brisk business selling abortion pills to young women, to middle-aged women, to black women, to white women, to Hispanic women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burdened mothers walk in, then they walk out an hour or so later empowered to kill the children in their wombs. Most hold a single sheet of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Friday, for the first time, there were none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I live near a small<\/strong> to midsize city, a mile or so from a large university. Soon after beginning this weekly vigil, I noted the consistency and volume of Planned Parenthood\u2019s business\u2014usually seven to nine women, occasionally 10 to 12, sometimes even more customers during my midday hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But over the last 12 -18 months, there\u2019s been a slow and steady decline. It\u2019s gotten to the point that I hardly remember the last time more than five women entered during an hour. Could it be that more women are choosing their children over abortion?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likely not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent figures indicate that the number of abortions in the United States has\u00a0actually increased<\/a>\u00a0over the past several years and that more and more of these abortions\u2014now well over 60 percent<\/a>\u2014are accomplished through chemicals alone. Many of these \u201cmedication abortions\u201d now occur following an online video appointment. Planned Parenthood refers to these as\u00a0\u201cself-managed abortions\u201d and \u201cat-home abortions.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It used to be that \u201cmedication abortion\u201d\u2014use of the abortion pill(s)\u2014followed on-site appointments, pregnancy tests, and personal counsel. Today, more and more Michigan women bypass the pleasant smiles and passing support of Planned Parenthood\u2019s staff members for an online appointment and a chemically-induced abortion, all in the privacy of one\u2019s bedroom and bathroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is abortion by \u201ctelehealth\u201d: no visit necessary; only a video chat followed by the abortion pill confidentially and plainly mailed to one\u2019s home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This status quo is a direct result of President Biden\u2019s\u00a0aggressive promotion<\/a>\u00a0of abortion. During 2021, using the Covid pandemic as leverage, the Biden Administration proposed and promulgated rules by regulatory decree which obviated prior standards and practice in order to allow abortion pills to be mailed without need for a physical exam or appointment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those regulations were finalized in January 2023. Not long thereafter, our local Planned Parenthood\u2019s traffic began to decline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few months ago, Planned Parenthood announced the\u00a0closure\/consolidation<\/a>\u00a0of four of its 14 clinics in Michigan and the dispatch of 10 percent of their 200+ Michigan staff. One wonders how 90 percent of their staff members remain employed after nearly 30 percent of their locations were shuttered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is all too clear. According to the Guttmacher Institute: \u201cMedication abortion has proven to be\u00a0a game changer<\/a>\u00a0in expanding abortion care in the United States.\u201d \u201cSelf-managed,\u201d \u201cat-home\u201d abortions following online \u201ctelehealth visits\u201d is a\u00a0growth business<\/a>\u00a0for Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the present and the future of abortion in Michigan and across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of these at-home, self-managed abortions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planned Parenthood of Michigan states that these medication abortions are a safe, convenient, and private way to end a pregnancy. \u201cThe only difference<\/a>\u00a0is the virtual visit and pills coming by mail.\u201d The Guttmacher Institute agrees: \u201cMedication abortion provided via telemedicine is\u00a0as safe<\/a>\u00a0and effective as provision in a health care facility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others are not so sanguine about the move from personal medical care to self-inflicted and self-managed abortions. Insurance generated data analyzed and published recently by the Ethics and Public Policy Center tells\u00a0a very different story<\/a>: that \u201cover\u00a0one in ten patients experience at least one serious adverse event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, which is it?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We deserve to know the answer to that question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This much we do know: Planned Parenthood is facilitating a growing number of abortions in America through \u201ctelehealth.\u201d At the same time, they are distancing themselves from direct and personal participation in these abortions. In so doing, they may also be placing a distance between themselves and ethical obligations and legal liabilities which old-fashioned, direct, and personal participation in the act of the abortion implies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A neat trick, that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call it whatever you wish<\/strong>\u2014\u201cmedication abortion,\u201d or \u201cself-managed\u201d abortion, or \u201cat-home\u201d abortion\u2014Planned Parenthood\u2019s near-total, values-free abortion advocacy has succeeded more than its founders could have ever imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abortion is being completely mainstreamed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their time of desperate need, our women are being isolated and then abandoned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They stand alone.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Madigan has worked for more than 20 years as a consultant and in executive roles with non-profit organizations. His charitable and educational interests in support of pregnant women and promoting the dignity of life led to his representation of dozens of individual defendants charged for acts of civil disobedience at or near abortion clinics.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: John Madigan, originally published July 28, 2025, Crisis Magazine A recent wave of Planned Parenthood clinic closures may not be from a decline in abortions, but a move to self-managed home abortions. Most weeks, I spend an hour or so standing on a public right-of-way facing a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic. I pray the Rosary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLast Friday, there were none - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/last-friday-there-were-none\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Friday, there were none - Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: John Madigan, originally published July 28, 2025, Crisis Magazine A recent wave of Planned Parenthood clinic closures may not be from a decline in abortions, but a move to self-managed home abortions. 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