Historic abortion center closure announced by 40 Days for Life

From David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life:

Bryan/College Station, Texas -- The most significant abortion center closure -- in the 40 years of legalized abortion since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision -- was made public today when Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Inc. announced that it was shutting down its abortion facility in Bryan/College Station, Texas after fifteen tumultuous years in business.

In 2003, on the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, ABC's Nightline spotlighted pro-life efforts in Bryan/College Station and said the community was "shaping the abortion debate" in America. Since that time, the local Planned Parenthood abortion facility gained worldwide notoriety as:

* Site of the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in 2004, an effort that has since grown into a worldwide pro-life mobilization of 575,000 volunteers in 501 cities around the globe; saving 7,536 babies from abortion, closing 37 abortion centers, and helping 83 workers to quit their jobs in the abortion industry

* Place where former abortion center director and Planned Parenthood employee of the year Abby Johnson experienced a conversion, quit her job, and became an outspoken pro-life advocate, going on to found And Then There Were None, a new ministry which has since   helped 60 other workers to leave the abortion industry over the last year

* Home of the Coalition for Life, the grassroots organization which Planned Parenthood credited for making the community "the most anti-choice place in the nation" in which Planned Parenthood experienced its "most consistent and active" opposition in the nation

This news was also accompanied by announcements of closures of two other Texas Planned Parenthood centers -- in Huntsville and Lufkin -- both of which were sites of 40 Days for Life campaigns.