Pro-Life Groups Redeem Former Texas Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, November 05, 2015

A former Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan-College Station, Texas became a pro-life facility owned by Hope Pregnancy Centers. The site was dedicated on Sept. 12, 2015.

Abby Johnson, left, the former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, stands next to Shawn Carney, National Campaign Director of 40 Days for Life, whose group prays outside the clinic.

Planned Parenthood Federation president Cecile Richards (C) waits to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington September 29, 2015.

Pro-life activists participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, January 22, 2014. Pope Francis used Twitter to back the annual anti-abortion rally, which was expected to draw hundreds of thousands of activists to Washington on Wednesday.

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To say that a former Planned Parenthood facility in Texas has been given new life would be an understatement.

A commercial property located in Bryan-College Station that once housed a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic is now the home of a healthcare facility, pregnancy center and a pro-life organization.

Last week Hope Pregnancy Centers celebrated the one year anniversary of its closing on the Bryan-College Station complex.

Tracy Frank, executive director of Hope Pregnancy Centers of Brazos Valley, told The Christian Post that the facility had its official dedication in September.

In October of last year, Hope Pregnancy closed on the Planned Parenthood property, which between purchase price and remodeling and repair expenses totaled about $725,000.

Work on the facility "started immediately," recalled Frank, who added that remodeling "was based on tenant needs, which took a little longer to define and carry out."

The new 40 Days for Life headquarters in Bryan, Texas, November 2014. | (Photo: Screengrab/Vimeo/40 Days for Life)

Frank explained that one of the key services offered at the revamped facility is free and confidential STD testing and treatment. Plans are in the works to advertise this service more extensively.

To cover expenses, Hope Pregnancy took out two private no-interest loans. According to Frank, about $260,000 remains to be paid off.

Frank is enthusiastic about the finished facility and the synergy it creates between the other organizations. "It is really exciting because now we have all these people working together. ... Its [been] totally refreshed, revitalized and, as we like to say, redeemed," she said.

"It's been open now for two months and Brazos Medical Associates is seeing patients, we are seeing ours ... and 40 Days has their global headquarters here."

Originally intending to be the sole owners of the property, Hope Pregnancy eventually gave a 25 percent share to 40 Days for Life.

Brazos Medical Associates, a pro-life enterprise owned by a married couple who used to perform abortions, uses about half of the property for its services, which include various nutritional services and gynecological care.

"So now you have a once in a lifetime occurrence, right now, of these former abortionists working with a pregnancy center housed in a former abortion clinic in partnership with the 40 Days for Life organization," said Frank.

During an interview with CP, 40 Days for Life Campaign Director Shawn Carney explained that moving his organization into the facility had symbolic significance.

"That was the location of our first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign back in 2004," said Carney, noting that the campaign included "prayer and fasting," as well as "community outreach."

He added, "At first we really had no interest in the building." But when Hope Pregnancy Centers approached them about the site they decided that they could use "some of" the edifice.

"How appropriate to use that for our office," continued Carney. "40 Days for Life has never had an office and yet it ended up being the place where the 40 Days for Life campaign first began."