Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Church to bury abortion ashes


Deacon Dave Luksch, right, leads a candlelight vigil at  Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Boulder, Colo., Friday in remembrance of aborted fetuses. The church will bury the ashes of up to 1,000 aborted fetuses in its cemetery this weekend.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
David Kelly Los Angeles Times

BOULDER, Colo. – A Catholic church plans to bury the ashes of up to 1,000 aborted fetuses Sunday, raising a storm of protest from those who accuse it of exploiting the pain and grief of women for political purposes.

Sacred Heart of Mary Church obtained the ashes from a local mortuary that has a contract to cremate remains from the Boulder Abortion Clinic. But the clinic said it didn’t know the ashes were being given to the church.

“They have taken it upon themselves to make a macabre ritual out of this, inflicting pain on everyone,” said clinic director Dr. Warren Hern. “I have women calling me who are very upset over this. These fanatics simply cannot leave other people alone with their most intimate sorrow.”

Hern said Crist Mortuary, which does the cremations, had violated a contract that said remains would not be used in religious ceremonies. He called their actions “unconscionable” but declined to say if he planned to sue.

The owners of the mortuary defended their actions.

“First of all, Crist Mortuary obviously cremated these fetal remains at the request of the clinic, and the church had a site and was willing to take them,” said Terry Hemeyer, managing director of Service Corporations International in Houston, which operates Crist. “There was no intent of the mortuary to make any political or religious statement at all. They were trying to do the right thing, which I think they are doing.”

The church began getting ashes from the mortuary in 1996 and quietly has been doing burial services since 2001. Parishioners went public this year to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

“We never meant this as a political statement. We wanted to give dignity to the unborn child and dignity to the pain and sorrow a woman who has had an abortion feels,” said Susan LaVelle, a parish volunteer organizing the service.

The church cemetery has a Memorial Wall for the Unborn, with tiny plaques put there by women who have had abortions. Each one has a message:

“I’m sorry.”

“Forgive Me”

“No less real, No less loved”

The remains of 3,000 fetuses are buried near the wall. On Sunday, between 600 and 1,000 small boxes of ashes will be emptied into a tomb and covered.

LaVelle said Chuck Myers, a Crist employee, contacted the church in 1996 after discovering human remains in material received from the abortion clinic.

“The clinic said it was just tissue, but when he opened it up he and his staff were traumatized,” she said. “He asked the church what he should do, and our priest offered to bury it.”

Myers could not be reached for comment, and LaVelle said she was baffled by the controversy.

“If we had not buried these ashes, they would have been thrown away in the trash,” she said. “Why would they be upset that we are treating the remains of unborn children with dignity?”

The Catholic Archdiocese of Denver has expressed support for what the church is doing.

“This parish and other parishes have done this for years,” Sergio Gutierrez, the diocese spokesman, said Friday. “This discussion clarifies the distinction between people who believe in the sanctity of life and those who don’t. What is their view? To discard unborn children and then worry where they end up.”

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that neither the church nor the mortuary has done anything against the law.

“It’s all legal,” said Glenn Mallory, a solid waste disposal specialist with the department.

Legal perhaps, but some groups say it’s a violation of privacy.

“It’s sad the church would take it upon itself to violate the doctor-patient relationship,” said Kate Horle, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. “These women went to the doctor in confidence and made a difficult, personal decision. And now it’s been dragged all over the media.”