By Liz Townsend

Yakima, Washington's first abortion clinic closed November 15, a result of fewer women having abortions and of the ever-expanding reach of Planned Parenthood. The Feminist Women's Health Center opened in 1979, and about 1,000–1,200 abortions took place there each year, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic.

In Washington state, the rate of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age declined from 18 in 2008 to 16.7 in 2009, the Herald-Republic reported.

In addition to the declining number of abortions, the Feminist Women's Health Center also faced competition from Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, which has clinics in the same area. "There isn't the patient volume for two main providers," clinic founder Beverly Whipple told the Herald-Republic.

The language used by abortion-industry insiders sounded almost like the remarks when a national chain opens a new store in an area previously served by mom-and-pop businesses. "You end up with an independent provider trying to figure how to compete against a name everybody knows," Charlotte Taft, director of the Abortion Care Network, part of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers in Washington, D.C., told the Herald-Republic.

Of course, their business is built on the death of unborn babies. One fewer abortion mill is nothing but good news to pro-lifers.

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