DAYTON, Ohio — A combination of prayer and the persistent monitoring of a state law regulating abortion businesses is credited with bringing about the closing of an abortion facility and its subsequent sale to a pro-life group here.

Dayton Women's Services, one of two abortion sites in this central Ohio city, closed in January, less than a month after the state threatened to revoke its license and two months after a prayer vigil was begun at the facility.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, who was in Dayton for the start of the vigil, said he has seen similar prayer efforts lead to the closing of abortion clinics elsewhere and to the conversion of abortion providers.

He recalled celebrating Mass next to a Jacksonville, Fla., abortion clinic that closed the following year. Said Father Pavone, “Many other [abortion] mills have closed after the prayerful, faithful, presence of pro-life people.”

Prayer, he said, is the foundation of the pro-life movement, but he stressed that it should never be used as an escape from taking necessary action.

Vivian Koob, director of Elizabeth's New Life Center, which purchased the Dayton Women's Services clinic next to its own building Jan. 26, said that on Dec. 12, the last day of the prayer vigil, the state health department announced the clinic's license would be revoked.

Dec. 12 is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image was carried by participants in the vigil.

“That was pretty powerful,” said Koob, who also is a Respect Life coordinator for two Catholic parishes here. “Certainly there were a lot of factors in closing the clinic, but nobody could dismiss the efforts of the faith community in this. I think it all worked together to bring the clinic to closure.”

Angie McGraw, executive director of Dayton Right to Life, which led an effort to make sure state requirements on the inspection and licensing of local abortion clinics were met, agreed. “The prayers were obviously very powerful, but God also expects us to do our part. I think it was a combination of prayer and action that resulted in the closing of the clinic.”

Lars Egede-Nissen, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Greater Miami Valley, said he was saddened by the clinic's closing.

Said Egede-Nissen, “We strongly value safe, affordable, and high-quality services to families needing to make responsible choices about their health care, and we hope the community will come together to assure that women have access to all the services they need. This would include education, birth control, prenatal care, abortion, and adoption.”

Dayton Right to Life decided to take a closer look at Ohio's regulation of abortion clinics in the city after learning in 1999 that a state law treats such facilities as ambulatory surgical facilities, and requires them to be licensed.

The law had been on the books about a year when Dayton Right to Life and other Ohio pro-life groups urged state officials to enforce the regulations. In May 2000, the Dayton group began monitoring the licensing process by filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

As a result, they discovered that Dayton Women's Services had been licensed on May 25 and that a former abortionist from the clinic was serving as its backup physician, circumventing a requirement that the facility have a transfer agreement with a hospital.

That surprised longtime Dayton prolifers, McGraw said, because the physician, Dr. Larry Gould, had said publicly in 1986 that he had experienced a conversion and would no longer do abortions. “We called him and said, ‘Tell us what's going on,’” McGraw said. “His response was, ‘I'm not going to let a woman suffer if she needs medical help.’”

McGraw said it was hard to convince the doctor that by serving as the clinic's backup physician he was enabling abortions to be performed. “He had laid low for a lot of years and hadn't done abortions, but at least we opened up a dialogue with him.”

Then on Oct. 11, Dayton Right to Life got an anonymous tip that a Dayton Women's Services patient had died at a local hospital following an abortion eight hours earlier. They contacted Dr. Gould, who said he didn't know about it.

Dayton Right to Life immediately called for an investigation into the woman's death and a week later, the state health department conducted an inspection of the clinic. On Nov. 1, Dayton Women's Services was given 30 days to correct violations.

In the meantime, Dr. Gould notified the state he would no longer serve as the clinic's backup physician, requiring the clinic to find someone else or seek an agreement with a local hospital. The clinic responded by asking for a waiver of the requirement, but after a follow-up inspection, the request was denied and the state announced plans to revoke the clinic's license.

On Jan. 4, the state was notified that the clinic owner had retired and closed the facility.

“In the end, the clinic cited retirement as the reason for closing,” McGraw said, “but we can't help think that all the pressure the state exerted on them had to help with that decision.”

McGraw said that although the clinic was not found to have been negligent in the woman's death, it did fail to correct the violations that were identified. “They really were their own worst enemy in ways,” she said.

Among the problems the state cited, McGraw said, were rusty instruments and unmarked or incorrectly marked medications. “That kind of thing should strike fear in everyone's heart, no matter which side of the issue you're on.”

After the state action, Elizabeth's New Life Center learned through calls from the clinic receptionist and an unidentified realtor that the abortion clinic building was for sale.

The receptionist had already begun to question her work at the clinic, Koob said. “She called because she said she didn't want another abortionist coming in here and opening another abortion clinic.”

Koob's group decided to make an offer on the building and its contents, taking money from the center's capital campaign to pay the $58,500 purchase price.

When her organization got the keys to the abortion clinic, Koob said, “The first thing we did was go in and pray.”

Plans are to sell the building to a men's ministry or some other group that will not perform abortions. Although Elizabeth's New Life Center initially thought it might use the building to expand its own services, Koob said the group has determined it cannot afford to keep the clinic.

Judy Roberts writes from Millbury, Ohio.