Catholic Church Buries Hundreds of Babies From Late-Term Abortion Center
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 24, 2005
Boulder, CO (LifeNews.com) — Despite objections from abortion advocates, a local Catholic Church went forward with a Sunday burial service for hundreds of unborn children whose ashes were given to it by a mortuary that services a late-term abortion facility.
Susan LaVelle, a parish volunteer who organized today’s service, told the Associated Press that it was intended to "give dignity to the unborn child" rather than make a political statement.
The church had expected to bury more than a thousand unborn children, but Warren Hearn’s abortion business blocked their efforts and asked the church to return the babies’ remains to the mortuary.
Last week, Sacred Heart of Mary Church revealed that, for years, it has been quietly receiving the remains of babies aborted at his Boulder Abortion Clinic.
A mortuary working with his abortion business has been secretly sending the ashes of babies cremated after their abortions to the church.
The development has Hearn vividly upset and he says Crist Mortuary was not supposed to dispose of the ashes of the babies in a religious ceremony unless receiving his permission.
"My patients are calling, and they’re furious and horrified because they have worked through this," Hern claimed in an interview with the Denver Post newspaper. "They’re furious at Crist Mortuary and the Catholic Church for making a public spectacle in this macabre death ritual."
Hearn did not say whether he would sue the church or mortuary.
However, Houston-based Service Corporations International, which runs more than 1,600 mortuaries and funeral homes, stands by its local facility.
Terry Hemeyer, managing director of SCI said he didn’t know the details of the contract but said no harm was intended.
"Basically, Crist Mortuary cremated these fetal remains at the request of the clinic," he said. "The church cemetery had a site for the ashes to be placed and was willing to take them. There was no intent by the mortuary to make any political or religious statement."
Hemeyer told the Post that the church was only trying to handle the remains of the babies "with respect."
According to Department of Public Health representative Glenn Mallory, the arrangement between Crist and Hearn’s abortion facility does not violate any law.
Women in Colorado are allowed to dispose of the remains of their baby after an abortion, but a funeral home can do so if she opts against it.
In an attempt to forestall the service, pro-abortion State Representative Debbie Stafford told the church that it was violating a Colorado law that requires unclaimed remains to be held at last a year.
About 200 people showed up for the service as well as two pro-abortion protestors.
