Pro-Life Activists Claim Md. Abortion Doctor Is Close to Shutting Down
An anti-abortion protest in Germantown, Md., attracted 2,000 people last week for a prayer vigil focused on a particular clinic, and now the director of the Maryland Coalition For Life says he is very confident the physician performing the abortions will be forced to shut down.
The prayer event last Monday marked one year since LeRoy Carhart started up his business in Germantown, and by his own account he performs up to 60 abortions a month. Demonstrators placed 720 white crosses at Carthart's Germantown Reproductive Health Services in memory of the babies aborted in the past year, as The Christian Post previously reported.
The pro-life activists had been protesting almost every Monday since the practice opened, with hundreds of people at every turnout, but last week they drew their biggest gathering by far.
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Michael Martelli, the executive director of the Maryland Coalition for Life, one of the main organizers of the protest, told The Christian Post that the momentum was only increasing and that he was confident that “whether it be tomorrow, or in a couple of months,” the community will force the doctor out.
Martelli said that although Carhart has largely tried to stay away from media exposure, he is becoming “increasingly agitated and bitter” over the protests, which are gaining more attention and support every week. According to Martelli, not even pro-choice supporters in the area, which is one of the most liberal counties in the nation, feel comfortable with the physician’s high rate of abortions.
Furthermore, the director revealed that churches in Germantown had been involved in the protests from the beginning. Upon learning that Carhart was starting his business, they organized a meeting where more than 40 church groups attended on only two-day notice and brought more than 620 people together for the first demonstration.
Martelli stated that the community in large is very supportive of the protests, and two schools had even allowed their students to miss some classes in order to attend the events and have their voices heard.
The organizer commented that people are united on this issue, that he is “absolutely positive that truth will be brought to light,” and that the doctor will have to shut down his practice. Martelli pointed to the high rate of abortion clinics shutting down around the nation, and the push for anti-abortion laws in Maryland – meaning that Carhart would find it difficult to reopen his practice anywhere nearby.
