Washington, DC—Planned Parenthood announced the closing of its Rapid City facility effective December 5, according to a report from the Rapid City Journal. Planned Parenthood’s only other South Dakota facility is located in Sioux Falls.
“Planned Parenthood’s announcement that it is closing its Rapid City, South Dakota, facility was met with great joy in our office,” said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. “The pro-lifers in Rapid City were innovators in their effort against Planned Parenthood, and now the evil organization is gone.”
Planned Parenthood publicly announced its intentions to open a clinic in Rapid City in 1989. Reaction of the local community was swift as the residents did not want the abortion giant in their town. Jim Sedlak, founder of STOPP and currently vice president of American Life League, traveled to Rapid City that year to be part of a huge outdoor rally opposing the proposed new clinic. In 1991, STOPP held its second national conference on Planned Parenthood in Rapid City.
Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke at the conference and later stated,
In 1991, as bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, I had personal experience with Planned Parenthood seeking to intrude itself into western South Dakota. I spoke at a STOPP national convention in Rapid City. In my talk, I noted that Planned Parenthood is “not a friend of the family. . . . It is a pro-abortion organization with a set of values vastly different from the values of Jesus Christ.” I would certainly reaffirm that conviction today. Planned Parenthood is an organization based on falsehoods about the human person, the family, and community life. I would urge any community today, as I did in 1991, to defend itself against Planned Parenthood by every legal and ethical means at its disposal.
The combined effect of all this activity was to delay the opening of the PP facility until 1995.
“Over the course of the last 20 years, I was honored to be invited back to Rapid City a number of times and to be in regular contact with the leaders in the fight against Planned Parenthood,” said Sedlak. “All of us at American Life League join in the celebration of Planned Parenthood’s exit.”
Media inquiries, please contact Rob Gasper at 540.659.4171 or RGasper@all.org
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American Life League was co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown, a three-time appointee to the Pontifical Academy for Life. ALL is the oldest national Catholic pro-life education and advocacy organization in the United States. For more information, please visit www.ALL.org or call 540-659-4171.