LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — The building that houses Kentucky’s only independent abortion provider, EMW Women’s Surgical Center, is for sale. Those in the commonwealth who have worked on the sidewalk, in the courts and in the local community to limit elective pregnancy termination and support women facing unplanned pregnancies were celebrating in the wake of last week’s news.
Addia Wuchner, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life, said the efforts of pro-life advocates had a direct impact on EMW selling their property on West Market Street in downtown Louisville.
“For years Kentucky Right to Life and our members, faithful pro-life advocates and prayer warriors have stormed Heaven for those who had no voice. They waited, trusted, and advocated that one day they would see the day that God would shut EMW down. Well, that day has come!!”
Angela Minter, founder and president of the sidewalk counseling ministry Sisters for Life, said the building’s sale is an answered prayer 15 years in the making.
“We are elated and we are grateful not only for the babies and the mothers and fathers and the families, but to be honest, we’re grateful…for our community,” said Minter, who had two abortions as a teenager. “This is not something that we needed in our community. And so we are so grateful to the Lord.”
“The for sale sign in front of the clinic is a reprieve to vulnerable unborn babies who will no longer have their lives ended there. It’s a day of rejoicing many across the Commonwealth have longed for,” said Richard Nelson, executive director of the Commonwealth Policy Center, in a press release issued over the weekend.
Todd Gray, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, said “while there is more work to be done to see legalized abortion fully abolished in Kentucky, it is certainly welcomed news that the EMW building is up for sale – a building where the lives of thousands of babies were terminated. I join thousands of other Kentuckians who have stood in front of this abortion clinic and prayed for the day it would be shut down. We give thanks to God.”
EMW Women’s Surgical Center did not return a phone call requesting comment, but released the following statement on Facebook: “EMW remains open and the business is not for sale.”
ACLU of Kentucky echoed the clinic with a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
“To be clear: our client, EMW Women’s Surgical Center, is open. The building is for sale, but the business is not, and remains committed to serving the needs of Kentuckians however possible in the current hostile climate toward reproductive freedom.”
BSideU for Life, a pregnancy resource center that operates a facility adjacent to the clinic building, declined to comment on the real estate listing.
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