COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (LifeSiteNews) — A Planned Parenthood facility in Iowa has permanently closed thanks to the efforts of local pro-lifers participating in a 40 Days for Life prayer campaign. 

Last week, the abortion giant shut the doors of a killing center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where a local chapter of the international sidewalk counseling organization 40 Days for Life has been praying during the group’s fall 2023 prayer vigil. 

“Planned Parenthood is reeling in Iowa, as NINE of the abortion giant’s facilities in the Hawkeye State have closed FOREVER following a 40 Days for Life campaign,” the organization celebrated in an October 13 blog post. 

“The Council Bluffs Planned Parenthood closed earlier this week—just months after the Cedar Falls location went out of business,” the post continued, making it “the 146th abortion facility to go under following a 40 Days for Life vigil.” 

“After many years of prayers and hard work, Council Bluffs is finally ABORTION-FREE!” 

Iowa Right to Life echoed the celebration on X, formerly Twitter, sharing a photo of a sign posted by local pro-life pregnancy center Gabriel’s Corner that reads “Planned Parenthood permanently closed.” 

Planned Parenthood is reeling in #Iowa, as NINE of the abortion giant’s facilities in the Hawkeye State have closed FOREVER! 👏 👏 👏

The Council Bluffs Planned Parenthood closed earlier this week, just months after the Cedar Falls location went out of business. 👍 pic.twitter.com/s7ktBoYOtm

— Iowa Right to Life (@IowaRTL) October 14, 2023

The victory comes more than a decade after the Council Bluffs City Council unanimously voted to keep the notorious late-term abortionist Leroy Carhart from bringing his killing business to the town. Carhart committed late-term abortions and faced numerous investigations and allegations of risky procedures that led to the deaths of both unborn babies and their mothers until he passed away in April.  

Over the past ten years, Planned Parenthood facilities across the state have permanently closed. In 2012, the Storm Lake facility that offered “telemed” abortions closed its doors. The following year, four more centers shut down, leading to a total of 16 Planned Parenthood facilities that shut down in three years.  

Significantly decreased business led another two former abortion centers to close in 2014, the same reason that resulted in a Dubuque Planned Parenthood facility following suit in 2016. 

Iowa law currently allows abortion up to 20 weeks’ gestation while a heartbeat law signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in July remains blocked in court. Should the new law come out of the ongoing litigation victorious, it would ban abortion once a heartbeat is detected – around six weeks’ gestation – with certain exceptions for rape, incest, and developmental abnormalities deemed “incompatible with life.”  

Last year, the Republican-led Iowa Supreme Court reversed a previous ruling and declared that the Iowa state constitution does not contain a so-called “right” to abortion.

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