The news of Indiana abortionist Ulrich Klopfer’s gristly collection of aborted babies’ bodies in his garage is re-opening wounds for his former patients.
This week, two women who aborted unborn babies at Klopfer’s abortion facilities described their trauma to local news outlets after learning about the recent discovery.
“I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, I did this awful thing and my children are possibly held in a box somewhere in a house,’” a 32-year-old woman named Assetou told CBS Chicago. “I cried.”
Last week, police said 2,246 medically preserved remains of aborted babies were found in Klopfer’s home in Illinois. Klopfer’s family reported finding the remains shortly after he died Sept. 3. Indiana and Illinois authorities have been working together to investigate the gruesome discovery. They suspected there may be more aborted babies unaccounted for at his old abortion businesses in South Bend, Gary and Fort Wayne.
Klopfer aborted unborn babies in Indiana for decades until the state revoked his license in 2015 for failing to report the rape of a 13-year-old patient and other health violations.
Trenevia Ivory said she was just 17 when she went to Klopfer for an abortion 11 years ago in South Bend. She told ABC 57 that she has suffered from depression ever since then, and now she is worried that one of the babies may be hers.
“It brings back a lot of memories. For 11 years, I’ve been fighting depression disorder. I’m on medication now. Maybe three or four different types of medication,” Ivory said.
“A person that keeps human remains inside their home, especially that many as he had? We are all worried. We don’t know who’s babies it is. One of my biggest fears is that one of those babies was mine inside that garage,” she continued.
Authorities said they cannot share any personal details about the remains of the aborted babies because of HIPPA regulations, but women who had abortions at Klopfer’s abortion facilities may contact the Indiana Attorney General’s Office for more information. They estimated that the babies are from abortions between 2000 and 2002.
Assetou, whose last name was not provided for privacy reasons, told CBS Chicago that she had two abortions at Klopfer’s Gary facility. She described how the abortionist manipulated women into thinking that aborting their unborn babies would be good for them.
According to the report:
The 32-year-old said the discovery has brought back a flood of emotions about the first time she went to see Klopfer at his now-closed Gary, Indiana clinic, when she was 18. She was carrying twins and still has the ultrasound pictures. Klopfer’s name is imprinted on them.
“I just said to myself, ‘I can’t bring my kids into this situation. I can’t bring my kids into poverty. I can’t bring my kids to a father who won’t love them or want them,’” Assetou said.
Assetou remembers sitting in a room with other women. She remembers Klopfer talking to them before the procedure.
“He said, ‘If you don’t do this, it will cost you … Yearly $240,000 to take care of a kid. So would you rather deal with that or would you rather go home and just go back to your regular life?’” Assetou said. “There was no emotion. There was no empathy.”
Though she said she still is pro-choice, Assetou warned women that abortion comes with a lifetime of trauma.
“Every circumstance is different,” she said. “I don’t know what brought them to that level but what I will say is if you choose to do that just know it will live with you forever.”
Many women suffer physically and psychologically after aborting an unborn baby. Post-abortion healing programs like Rachel’s Vineyard and those offered at many pregnancy resource centers offer compassionate, non-judgmental support to help women heal and mourn the loss of their unborn child.
