Sheldon S. Shafer

Louisville Courier Journal

A coalition of anti-abortion organizations has scheduled a Saturday rally at the newly opened Planned Parenthood office on South Seventh Street.

The event is intended to spotlight what the sponsors say is Planned Parenthood’s "continued placement of abortion facilities in the inner city or predominately minority communities."

The sponsors also are calling on state officials not to allow Planned Parenthood to perform abortions in Louisville.

The rally is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at 842 S. 7th St.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) ​began offering abortion services at the new facility on Jan. 21. Six days later, Gov. Matt Bevin accused Planned Parenthood of "openly and knowingly operating an unlicensed abortion facility in clear violation of the law." He ordered the organization to stop performing abortion services, saying it had found two deficiencies in the license application it filed Nov. 19.

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Planned Parenthood has suspended abortion services temporarily while it tries to resolve the dispute about the clinic's license application with the administration of Bevin. The organization's officers have said they believe they had followed the directive of state officials who oversee clinic licensing.

“Planned Parenthood claims to care about women’s health,” said Angela Minter of Sisters for Life, one of the rally organizers, in a press release. “And yet they began performing abortions without measures in place to protect women when something goes wrong."

Nate Robertson, a minister and anti-abortion activist spearheading Saturday’s rally, said another abortion facility in Louisville is not needed.

Kentucky previously had only one abortion provider, a private clinic in Louisville that also operates a part-time clinic in Lexington.

The organizers predicted that hundreds of supporters are expected to attend Saturday’s rally.

Rally participants will include Sisters for Life, Silent No More, Pro-Life Future, Created Equal, the Pro-Life Action League, Kentucky Right to Life, Indiana Right to Life, Family Foundation, Kentucky Pastors in Action Coalition, Commonwealth Policy Center, A Woman’s Choice Pregnancy Resource Center, Little Way Pregnancy Center, and More Grace Ministries.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.

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