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In 1973, the United
States Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand. In April of 1975, the
Chattanooga Women's Clinic (CWC) opened its doors for business on Vance
Road. It was the only abortion clinic in
Chattanooga, TN. In
1993, God used the mustard-seed faith of area Christians to permanently
close this facility. Chattanooga, TN is now one of the largest cities in
the United States without an abortion clinic. This is the story of a
miraculous series of events, culminating in what we now know as the National
Memorial for the Unborn.
In 1985, a small group of Chattanooga area Christians began to gather
together in the public right-of-way outside the CWC premises. They would
pray and counsel women as they came to have abortions. Despite harassment
and litigation, counseling and prayers continued whenever CWC was open for
business, rain or shine, day or night.
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Several of these same prayer warriors opened a pregnancy center directly
across the street from CWC. This center, AAA Women's Services, offered
women alternatives to abortion including real, practical help. AAA Women's
services saw 312 women in its first year of business (1985).
In January 1989, another local group began to intervene more directly by
blocking access to the CWC doors, buying time for counselors to intercept
women arriving to keep their abortion appointments. Additional "rescues"
took place throughout the year, and CWC responded by suing select Christian
leaders for $100,000 plus other damages they claimed to have resulted from
the non-violent and peaceful rescuers.
Subsequent to these events, a handful of men began to pray on the CWC
parking lot every Sunday morning. They specifically implored God to act by
either saving or removing the people who worked at CWC. Almost immediately,
clinic co-owner Sue Crawley contracted a fast-spreading cancer which ravaged
her body and hospitalized her. With good intentions, area Christians
(including pastoral leadership) attempted to visit Mrs. Crawley at different
stages of her hospital stay. Although they tried to encourage her and to
share the Gospel with her, she rebuked their efforts. Mrs. Crawley was
subsequently unable to return to work; she died soon thereafter.
Sidewalk counselors remained faithful and believers continued to pray. Some
twenty-one months later, the other clinic co-owner, Fran Muzzoco, likewise
contracted cancer and died abruptly. CWC operations were then turned over
to abortionist Dr. Ed Perry. At that time, Dr. Perry was already under
indictment by a Knoxville, TN grand jury because he had performed an illegal
abortion on a minor.
Time
passed and believers remained faithful. But in Winter 1992, Dr. Perry
started talks with the commercial realtor who owned the building and
property at which CWC had been operating since it opened in 1975. The
realtor had been forced to file for bankruptcy and the CWC property was one
of the listed assets. Dr. Perry and the realtor entered into a business
transaction whereby the property
would be sold from
the realtor to Dr. Perry, all subject to Bankruptcy Court approval. This
would have allowed Dr. Perry to continue the 18-year legacy of death at CWC.
It was Thursday morning, April 22, 1993. Word of the proposed sale became
known to a local realtor who immediately notified members of the Pro-Life
Majority Coalition of Chattanooga (ProMaCC). Divinely, ProMaCC's quarterly
Board Meeting was already scheduled for that very evening. The proposed
acquisition of the property dominated the meeting discussion. However,
there were two significant problems...1) Dr. Perry's bid for the property
was $249,000. 2) It was now late Thursday evening, and any objection to
the proposed sale from the realtor to Dr. Perry had to be filed in
Bankruptcy court by the end of the day on the following Monday.
Naturally, the ProMaCC Board was skeptical that sufficient funds could be
raised in such a short amount of time...one weekend. Nonetheless, they
prayed and began contacting local individuals for contributions. It's
important to note that no formal community-wide announcements or appeals of
any type were made. However, God began to bring in unbelievable amounts of
money almost immediately. By Monday afternoon, April 26, 1993, ProMaCC had
sufficient funds to file an objection to the proposed sale based on their
counter offer of $264,000. Blind-sided by ProMaCC's higher offer, Dr.
Perry's attorney immediately began filing a full week of various procedural
objections to ProMaCC's involvement. But U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge John
Cook threw out Perry's appeals and scheduled an auction to commence in his
courtroom that very afternoon, Friday, April 30, 1993. Meanwhile, God
continued to bless...
Additional monies had been pouring in all week, even unsolicited pledges
from attorneys who had been present in the courtroom and overheard the
case. By the time the session started Friday afternoon, ProMaCC had cash
and pledges totaling $301,000. The auction began with ProMaCC's counter
offer, and the judge ordered that subsequent bids be made in $5,000
increments. This was a crucial decision, because it established the
threshold ProMaCC knew it could not cross. ProMaCC's highest allowable bid
would be $294,000. If Dr. Perry persisted beyond that to $299,000, then
ProMaCC would lose the auction because it would not have the funds to make
the next required bid. Once again, God proved his faithfulness: Dr.
Perry bowed out when ProMaCC's bid reached $294,000!
On May 17, 1993, ProMaCC closed the sale and delivered cash to pay for the
building. CWC's lease expired that day, and ProMaCC immediately took
possession of the property. Feelings were mixed with joy and intense sorrow
as the new owners took possession of the very site where Chattanooga's only
abortion clinic had stood for 18 years...the very place where 35,000+ babies
had been slain. |
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At that time, CWC declared that a new clinic would reopen at a different
location in a matter of weeks, but that never happened. In fact, it was
only a matter of weeks until Mr. Crawley decided to abandon the abortion
industry altogether. Subsequently, he liquidated the assets of the
corporation, including the very equipment used during the abortions.
Less than a year later, January 1994, AAA women's services moved into a
totally remodeled half of the former abortion clinic. As of January 2003,
AAA had seen over 40,000 clients. Each year, on average, approximately
2,500-3,000 clients are seen personally, with 1,000 more phone and hot-line
contacts throughout the year. And the other half of the former abortion
clinic? It was completely renovated to create the National Memorial for
the Unborn. This facility houses a "Wall of Names" where anyone who has
lost a baby to abortion may come to find forgiveness, hope, and healing.
And by way of placing a brass plate on the Wall in honor of aborted
children...finally...closure. Praise be to God, the Author of life, the
Safe-Keeper of the innocent, and the Restorer of Hope for the broken. |
