Posted on 01/23/2005 7:45:39 PM PST by nypokerface
BOULDER, Colo. - A Roman Catholic church buried the ashes of hundreds of aborted fetuses Sunday, a day after the 32nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, drawing criticism that the church was exploiting women's grief to make a political statement.
A crowd of 250 parishioners prayed as the ashes were buried in the Sacred Heart of Mary Church cemetery, while a handful of protesters gathered nearby holding signs that read, "This church is a grave robber."
A mortuary hired by the abortion clinic to dispose of the fetuses had been giving the ashes to the church for years to be buried at a memorial. Dr. Warren Hern, clinic director, said he had no idea such an arrangement had been made and said his contract required the mortuary to bury the ashes in its own plot.
The church agreed to return the remains of 300 to 500 fetuses that had been cremated in November before the service began Sunday. The church had been planning to bury up to 1,000 fetuses. Seven bags containing remains from miscarriages also were buried.
Organizers said they wanted to give the fetuses the burial they deserved and provide a place for women who have had abortions to grieve and mourn.
"I think they misunderstand what we're doing," service organizer Susan LaVelle said. She said the parish has held unannounced burials twice a year since 2001, but the parish priest agreed to make the burial public this year.
LaVelle said the timing of the service so close to the Saturday anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision was a coincidence.
But Kate Horle, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, has said many of Hern's patients were devastated by the news of a religious service.
"Our concern is for the women who had personal relationships with Dr. Hern and their understanding of what would happen with the fetuses," she said. "That trust was violated with a third party."
Horle said most of Hern's patients have fetuses with fatal anomalies. His clinic specializes in "late abortion for fetal disorders," according to its Web site.
Hern did not immediately return a message seeking comment Sunday, but called the service last week "a cynical exploitation of private grief for political purposes."
Doug Kramer, 18, said his family attended the burial because his sister considered an abortion 14 years ago but instead gave her baby up for adoption.
"It's great to bring this out to the public," he said. "The word needs to be spread. Abortion does stop a beating heart. It's not giving a girl or boy a chance at life."
Riiiiiiiiiight.
I believe that but was it a birth or birthing anomality?
Pro-life bump!
So, he specializes in ending the lives of those with Down's Syndrome and other genetic disorders. He must be very proud of himself for preventing them and their parents from ever having to experience pain or the pain of loss. What parent would ever want the chance to hold their child in their arms, if even for one day, if there is a chance they could lose it. I'm positive that those couples unable to have children of their own would would feel not even the slightest rancor towards these parents. People should give away every thing of value they own. That way, they will never have to deal with the pain of losing something they love. What wonderful lives we would have if we all did this. I'm sure they would be simply great.
God Bless those poor innocent souls.
Good for the church.
If the abortion clinic has any sense they will just say thank you or shut up. There is no good PR for them in this, it just makes them look goulish and secretly ashamed of their business.
Ping.
And may the abortionist and his henchmen and female accomplices be struck blind by Christ until they shall have repented and then receive the Lord's healing through a succesor to the Apostles.
Ironically, CO is one of the most pro-abortion states of all. It and CA, NY, and HI were, I believe, the first four states to legalize this popular form of murder.
Actually the church was making moral statement. The AP liberal idiots wouldn't understand what one of those are...
Don't forget WA state, where legalized murder was not sanctioned solely by the legislature and governor, but by a vote of the people with Referendum 20 back in 1970.
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