Observer & EccentricLivonia’s last remaining abortion clinic — The Women’s Advisory Center at 27549 W. Six Mile Road — permanently closed Saturday after operating in the city for more than 30 years.
Owner Dr. Reginald Sharpe, of Grosse Pointe Park, filed for bankruptcy Oct. 15 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, alleging assets of up to $50,000 and liabilities of $100,001 to $500,000. He was also the subject of three lawsuits, one filed April 29, 2011, by the family of a 26-year-old Detroit woman who died following an abortion performed by Sharpe, the other two filed Aug. 30, 2012, by women who said their reproductive organs were damaged as a result of abortions by Sharpe. One of the women had to have a hysterectomy.
Sharpe could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. Someone who answered a call to the clinic phone number Tuesday said simply, “The office is closed.” A message was left for Sharpe.
The closing of The Women’s Advisory Center follows the shuttering last fall of the only other abortion clinic in Livonia, the WomanCare of Livonia clinic on Five Mile. Owner Alberto Hodari reportedly retired Jan. 31.
“Livonia for the first time in 31 years is abortion-free,” said pro-life activist Lynn Mills of Livonia, a member of Pro Life Detroit.
Mills said she has been picketing the clinic, holding all-night prayer vigils and offering sidewalk counseling to prospective patients since The Women’s Advisory Center opened in 1981.
She said she has been joined by people from many different denominations.
However, she said, she doesn’t think their efforts had much to do with the clinic’s closing. “I think Sharpe did his own self in,” she said.
She said at this point, she doesn’t care why it closed — she’s just glad it did. “The people of Livonia should be rejoicing right now,” she said.
Mills was the one who discovered the clinic had closed Saturday when she arrived there with seven others to pray outside and noticed the usually busy clinic had little activity. Mills asked a friend to call the clinic to see if the clinic was taking any appointments. The clinic staff member said over the phone that the clinic was “permanently closed.”
Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro Life Society, was equally glad the clinic closed. “Hopefully these clinic doors will remain forever locked against the killing of the innocent unborn, and the Sharpe clinics will be a sad, but ended chapter in Michigan abortion history,” she said.
Sharpe owned clinics in Bloomfield Hills and Warren, which also have been closed, Miller said.
ksmith@hometownlife.com | (313) 222-2098 | Twitter: @KarenS87
Sharpe could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. Someone who answered a call to the clinic phone number Tuesday said simply, “The office is closed.” A message was left for Sharpe.
The closing of The Women’s Advisory Center follows the shuttering last fall of the only other abortion clinic in Livonia, the WomanCare of Livonia clinic on Five Mile. Owner Alberto Hodari reportedly retired Jan. 31.
“Livonia for the first time in 31 years is abortion-free,” said pro-life activist Lynn Mills of Livonia, a member of Pro Life Detroit.
Mills said she has been picketing the clinic, holding all-night prayer vigils and offering sidewalk counseling to prospective patients since The Women’s Advisory Center opened in 1981.
She said she has been joined by people from many different denominations.
However, she said, she doesn’t think their efforts had much to do with the clinic’s closing. “I think Sharpe did his own self in,” she said.
She said at this point, she doesn’t care why it closed — she’s just glad it did. “The people of Livonia should be rejoicing right now,” she said.
Mills was the one who discovered the clinic had closed Saturday when she arrived there with seven others to pray outside and noticed the usually busy clinic had little activity. Mills asked a friend to call the clinic to see if the clinic was taking any appointments. The clinic staff member said over the phone that the clinic was “permanently closed.”
Monica Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro Life Society, was equally glad the clinic closed. “Hopefully these clinic doors will remain forever locked against the killing of the innocent unborn, and the Sharpe clinics will be a sad, but ended chapter in Michigan abortion history,” she said.
Sharpe owned clinics in Bloomfield Hills and Warren, which also have been closed, Miller said.
ksmith@hometownlife.com | (313) 222-2098 | Twitter: @KarenS87
Her picketing and all-night prayer vigils DID have everything to do w/ the closing & I believe that wholeheartedly, God just worked on the doctor in order to get it done! HALLELUJAH!!! God bless her & everyone who helped!!! =)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI had an abortion their, it was a tough time in my life and Dr.Sharpe helped me through it, he is a godsend to me.
ReplyDelete