This picture is a 4D ultrasound of an unborn baby

I was late for Mass at St. Martha's this morning. Routinely, I go to the abortion clinic directly from the church which is only about a ten minute drive. As usual, I was in front of the abortion clinic door before 9 AM. Stan was not there; he must be working for the Sisters of Charity today. The abortionist pulled in to the parking lot earlier than normal. It will be a busy Monday. Even though I can't see him through his car's smoky glass window I stare right at the silver Lincoln Continental until he pulls in to his parking space in the back of the clinic.

Cars began to fill the lot and women and girls stepped on to the sidewalk to enter the clinic. Almost everyone I spoke to took a card with referrals to crisis pregnancy centers or other service oriented organizations. I also gave everyone a card showing development of a baby from an embryo to birth. They took the information, but today most were not very receptive to conversation.

It is another day of young girls coming to abort. The girls are always willing to talk. I smile at them, they smile back, and they stop and talk. Typical teenage girl behavior. But the girls shut down as soon as their mothers approach. Talking with the mother is a totally different conversation. It is a challenge for me to be understanding and charitable towards a mother who would bring her daughter to this horrid place in order to get rid of her grandchild while putting her own child's life in physical, mental, and spiritual peril.

Kathy was not able to come this morning, so I loudly recited our prayers, which among others include a Rosary, and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy said kneeling. It is humbling to kneel on the sidewalk in front of such a busy street, and even more so without my fellow sidewalk counselors kneeling with me. After I finished the prayers, Chris took over.

He immediately entered into conversation with the mother of a high school girl that was planning to return in two days for the abortion. He seemed to be making progress until another mother came out of the clinic. This mother's child was already in the process of the abortion. Of course, she encouraged the other mother to go through with it telling her that it will give her "peace" (honest, that is the word she used) knowing she will not have to bear another financial burden. They were feeding off each other and talking about how difficult it is to take care of these babies whom their unmarried daughters continuously produce, in spite of using contraceptives. They agreed that it would be best if the age for a "tube tie" dropped under twenty-one. Since they are using abortion as a contraceptive, it would be cheaper to sterilize the teenage girl so that she could have unlimited sex, without the consequence of reproduction. Never mind about STD's! They assured Chris that God understands and approves of not bringing unwanted babies in to this world. Wow, where in the Bible did they find that? After all, she said the girl getting the abortion is going off to college this fall; who would take care of her baby at college? A baby does not fit into the college scene.

In the mean time Chris is holding his gruesome extremely large aborted baby pictures. I hesitated to interupt Chris, but I could not take another ridiculously absurd illogical comment! So I said, "Ladies, do you honestly think that God would want you to mutilate your grandchild, like in these pictures, so that your daughter can go away to a college or so that you can avoid a financial burden"? They looked at the pictures right in front of their faces and winced. I told them about the alternatives, including adoption. The resources for them are all there. They said they could never adopt out their own flesh and blood. The next question that begs to be asked is, "So you would kill your own flesh and blood rather than give him or her to a loving family"? They ignored that, and went right back to financial burden. What a circular conversation, going nowhere!

I remained silent and listened to Chris. I gave the little high school girl who was holding the white abortion envelope a sympathetic look. I asked her what she thinks. Her mother snapped that it doesn't matter what she thinks, she won't be the one bearing the burden. I wondered which burden she meant. The young girl and I locked eyes for several seconds, and then she shrugged at me and hid her sad little face in her mother's back. Just like the baby she carries, she isn't really there.