It has happened again. Another mother has been killed by so-called "safe and legal" abortion.
What's not going to happen again is the silence.
At the recent March for Life Youth Rally which our Priests for Life Youth Director coordinated, I distributed to the young people the "Tombstone Poster," containing the names of many women killed over the years by so-called "safe and legal" abortion. I told the youth to take these posters home and use them to awaken the consciences of their communities.
That same day, at the prayer vigil in front of Planned Parenthood in Washington DC, I read publicly the names of a couple of hundred women killed by so-called "safe and legal" abortion as we prayed for each one, "Lord, have mercy on her." I offered the Planned Parenthood staff and escorts a copy of the names. They did not want it and did not seem to care.
At the outset of my work with Priests for Life I collaborated with Life Dynamics on the book Lime 5, which to this day provides one of the best and scariest chronicles of the continuous carnage that the abortion industry inflicts on the very women they pretend to care about.
Last year, our Priests for Life team, and in particular our Director of African-American outreach, Dr. Alveda King (niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.), spoke out forcefully about the murder of Tonya Reaves by the abortion clinic she went to in the Chicago area.
And at the National Prayer Service at which I spoke on the occasion of the completion of 40 years since Roe vs. Wade, I distributed a disturbing brochure showing the autopsy photos -- released by her parents -- of Marla Cardamone, killed by abortion at a respectable Pittsburgh hospital.
And now it has happened again. Another woman has been killed by so-called "safe and legal" abortion. It happens constantly, in fact, but the abortion industry usually succeeds in covering it up. And even when they don't, the rest of us succeed in keeping it relatively quiet.
That has to change today.
Late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart began an abortion procedure a few days ago on a woman who was about 33 weeks pregnant. These abortions are legal, and he performs them at his killing center in Germantown, MD. Yesterday, she developed complications. The abortionist could not be reached. She was taken to the emergency room by private vehicle, and she died.
Three things need to happen here. First, the state of Maryland has to shut down Carhart's killing business. Second, every person who cares about this needs to spread the word immediately about this tragedy, to awaken the consciences of our neighbors. This includes pastors speaking out about the harm abortion does, and it includes all of us telling the stories of those harmed and killed by abortion (see RecallAbortion.com).
Third, we need to redouble our efforts to mobilize people in the pro-life cause. If this latest tragedy isn't enough evidence that the time to end abortion is now, then what is?