Oldest independent abortion center in Portland closed, may reopen under new ownership

After almost 50 years, Oregon’s largest and oldest independent abortion center has closed its doors. 

The Lovejoy Surgicenter, Portland’s flagship abortion center — which received over $146,000 in PPP funds in 2020 — announced on its website that it closed its doors January 16th, directing patients to collect their records. 

Oregon Right To Life (ORTL) weighed in on the closing on its website. “Lovejoy Surgicenter has separated women from their children and children from their lives for years,” said ORTL’s executive director Lois Anderson. “They also participated in gruesome scientific studies, trading body parts from aborted babies for financial compensation from Oregon Health and Sciences University.” 

In 2015, ORTL confirmed that the center was involved in selling baby parts to Advanced Bioscience Research in California, and included fliers stating this, as well as ABR’s fee schedule. In 2012, the center was also the subject of a lawsuit when a nurse sexually assaulted patients under anesthesia. 

READ: Abortion nurse accused of fondling unconscious patients and exposing herself to clinic staff

“For over fifty years, faithful, dedicated pro-life advocates have stood on the sidewalks outside Lovejoy offering hope and physical support to the women entering there,” continued Anderson. “There are countless children alive today because of their work. We are so grateful for the sacrifices they have made and will continue to make.”

Oregon has some of the most extreme abortion policies in the country, and the state legalized abortion even before Roe v. Wade. There are currently no legal protections for preborn babies in the state and no restrictions on where or when abortions can be committed. In 2017, the state expanded taxpayer coverage for abortion and even required insurance companies to cover the procedures. 

In such a pro-abortion state, pro-lifers in Oregon will continue to have their work cut out for them. According to ORTL, a doctor from Seattle plans to purchase and reopen the clinic in March, and Lovejoy’s website says the abortion center “will reopen on 3/1/2021 under new management and at a new location.” The closing of the facility means, at least until that time, fewer preborn babies in the Portland area will be subjected to the violence of chemical abortion or abortion by dismemberment.

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