Photo by The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville

ATLANTA—Cathy Schneider and many others kept vigil for countless hours outside of the Atlanta Women’s Center, hoping to encourage pregnant mothers to consider an alternative to abortion.   

A parishioner at St. Brigid Church in Johns Creek and leader of the parish’s Respect Life ministry, Schneider prayed on the sidewalk, offering support to women heading toward the clinic doors for many years  

“God has answered so many prayers from this sidewalk and hundreds and hundreds of babies have been rescued from here,” and families kept intact, she said.  

Leaders in the movement against abortion in the Archdiocese of Atlanta have guarded optimism that the Atlanta Women’s Center, one of the large abortion providers in the area, has closed its doors.   

The clinic website has been taken down, a large real estate sign is posted on the wall and phone calls are directed to New Jersey, said the leader of Georgia Life Alliance. 

Close to 150 supporters of this prayer effort gathered for a family-friendly celebration on Aug. 29 at Holy Spirit Church. The parish celebrated a Mass followed by a dinner with children’s activities. 

At Holy Spirit Church’s Aug. 29 pro-life party, Andrew Sipos paints the face of young Angelica. A dinner and children’s activities followed Mass to mark the closure of an Atlanta abortion clinic.

The closure may follow a national pattern of a decline of about 5 percent in the number of physical abortion clinics since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision eliminated the federal right to abortion in 2022, according to the Guttmacher Insitute, which favors abortion rights.  

However, despite fewer clinics, the number of abortions in the country increased about 11 percent, according to the institute’s June report.  

Joey Martineck, leader of the Archdiocese of Atlanta Respect Life Ministry, applauded the situation, but said the work is far from over.  

“It’s great to see such a big abortion facility closing. Praise God for all the dedicated people who have been praying outside that clinic for years! We should celebrate this as a victory,” he said in an email.  

However, changing abortion methods, along with the growing use of telemedicine, is replacing physical clinics. More than six out of 10 abortions are drug-induced. Women may receive the abortion pills online without visiting a medical facility, said Martineck, so work also must include a focus to “change hearts” to get to underlying reasons women seek abortions.  

Respect Life promotes a “more appealing vision of the human person and sexuality than what the culture has accepted,” he said.  

Despite the 2022 Supreme Court decision, support for abortion rights remains strong. Some 63% of Americans favor, along with some 59 percent of Catholics, keeping abortions legal in all and most cases, reported the Pew Research Center. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls abortion a “moral evil.”  

With this closure, efforts to aid women should not slow down, but include initiatives like the Walking with Moms in Need program, which supports pregnant women, Martineck said. Parishes groups can identify their strengths and prioritize them, he said. Martineck praised a new effort at Sacred Heart Church in Milledgeville which determined what they can do is provide diapers, so that is the ministry’s focus.  

“More than half of the parishes in our Archdiocese have yet to make any formal participation in the Walking with Moms in Need movement. The AWC closure and the new landscape of chemical abortion should be a call to action,” he said.  

In the Atlanta area, nine clinics provide abortions, said activists. Schneider said sidewalk volunteers are committed to embracing pregnant women, from ensuring housing to providing clothes, diapers and other essentials.  

“If we can solve the needs of the mom, we can usually save the baby,” she said.