Subtitled: A Person’s a Person…
Last Wednesday, the kids and I attended a Day of Mourning at the future site of the new St. Paul abortuary.
It is an enormous structure that takes up the entire block and, once it is built, will be the 3rd largest abortion provider in the U.S.
In the words of Sarah Stoesz, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, it is to be their “brand new flagship headquarters and state-of-the-art health center”
(You can see the video that I’m quoting here.)
“This is a terrific thing,” Stoesz goes on to say, although, she admits, “I understand the nature of our opposition.”
We are the opposition.
We are the moms & dads & teens & children who do not think this building’s a “terrific” thing. We do not welcome this new construction. We would prefer that these babies live.
This is Kalley Yanta. She is an amazing, faith-filled wife and mother of six who is spearheading the protests against this huge abortuary.
You can see a series of videos on her mission beginning here.
Her message is directed to the construction workers, who, Kalley believes, deserve to know the ultimate end of all their effort. Yes, these are hardworking men who need to provide for their families, but should they do so at the cost of 1000’s of lives?
They are building a brand new Auschwitz.
This is Brian Gibson, the executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries. He, too, is a tireless defender of the unborn.
Pray for him.
This photo shows the size of a preborn baby at 16 weeks. In Minnesota, abortions are legal up to 17 weeks.
What do the doctors and nurses think?
What do they do with all the bits and pieces as they remove the baby from the womb?
They throw them away, is what.
This is my friend, Tina Robbins. She served as the liaison between Kalley Yanta and our homeschool co-op, and is 100% committed to the Pro-Life movement.
Like Kalley, she is an all-or-nothing kind of gal.
We need people like them in the Pro-Life fight.
400 balloons were released last Wednesday, one balloon for every ten babies that were aborted in St. Paul in 2009.
Abortion is not a choice that is pro-woman.
Abortion leaves women wounded.
And I will tell you…
Thank you so much for posting this. It breaks my heart to think of all those unwanted babies! 🙁 My husband's and my little boy is now 3 mo old, and we love him to pieces. I can't imagine women not wanting their babies…so sad. Thank you for posting this and for getting your family out there in support of life!
I'm in tears. It is so right and so fitting that you called this the new Auchwitz. Yesterday, out of the clear blue, my nine year old asked me if you kill someone, you go to jail for life, right? Um, yeah, usually. "Then people who committ abortions should go to jail for life." This isn't rocket science for a nine year old boy, but its commonplace for adults.
Thank you so much for posting this, Margaret!! Especially living 'up here in the sticks,' I had no idea they were building this new abortuary…
Seeing those balloons just broke my heart and brought me to tears.
God bless you and everyone who is calling attention to this evil and trying to help something good come of it. God Bless you especially for taking your kids, and teaching them the Truth.
"We believe in the strength and power of women and the potential of every human life."
LOVE THIS. What a terrific statement.
I want to ask a question. How do you approach this subject with children? I just can't do it. Every time it has come up, I back off because I don't want them to know that something so horrible actually happens.
Our prayers are with all the people who work so hard to end the terrible tragedy of abortion.
Keep praying for the young, they will be the ones to see an end to the culture of death.
Jenn, we are just heading out to Mass for Jem's birthday. I would be happy to answer your question later on, and maybe some other commenters can help out, too.
Thanks for posting this, I actually didn't even realize that this was this far along, I remember reading about the plans to build it a while back, but I've been out of the loop apparently.
Gives me something to offer up the pain for during labor next month!
God bless you guys.
Thank you so much for fighting this.
I also was not aware of it.
The balloons also broke my heart.
ps…I meant what the balloons represent. all those precious babies.
Thank you for posting, Margaret. The pictures are shot beautifully.
Hope you don't mind if I snag a copy of the one with me and my two littles!
Jenn,
There is no way to make the subject of abortion not hurt. But, the only way to abolish abortion is to speak the truth. You little guy might be too young, but your daughter is most definitely not. Sadly.
My own daughter is nine and she knows that abortion is a terrible thing that happens to some babies when their mothers don't want them. The subject of unplanned pregnancy has not come up (because she still believes that pregnancy only happens when a man and woman are married) and I have not told her any of the horrific details, but she knows it is very wrong, and she knows that every baby is a most precious life that God created and only God can take. In a few years she'll be ready for all of it. My sons — 14, 19, 21 — know everything. I pray that they will always believe that abortion is the greatest evil ever for as long as they live.
Thank you, Margaret, for your witness and your voice.
To Jennifer:
It is very difficult to expose our children to this horror, but it MUST BE DONE! The culture of death will continue if we don't educate our children, because they will one day end it.
Pray first, speak from your heart, and God will guide your speech.
If your children are old enough to understand, very gently approach the subject, telling them something like: some people don't believe that a baby is a wonderful blessing from God, like we know it is, but they think that babies are too much trouble. They are too selfish and self-centered to share their love and time with a baby, so they believe Satan's lies when he says that it is ok for them to kill the baby before it is born. And some misled people made laws that allow that to happen.
I don't know the ages of your children, but you might be surprised to find out what they already know.
A true story concerning my oldest child, told to me by another adult who was there: My oldest was 7 years old and in second grade. He felt compelled to 'enlighten' some of the other children on a playground prior to a presidential election after one girl declared that her family will be voting for Clinton because he supported abortion, and that is what her mom said was important. My son stood there explaining that abortion was the killing of babies, and that it was wrong. The girl said, "Oh! I have to tell my mom! I bet she doesn't know that!" That's all he knew at 7: Abortion kills babies, and that is wrong. But that was enough.
God bless you, Lori
p.s. – I just received this from my (now grown) aforementioned son following my linking this blog post to him: http://thecatholicspirit.com/news/local/electrician-sparks-life-commitment-by-turning-down-abortion-clinic-job/
Great post, Margaret! We've had those talks with our kids and try to keep it just iike Lori said. However, they've seen the horrible posters from the March for Life and they know the whole horrific story.
Jennifer,
I think with very young children you focus on the gift of life and the truth of personhood — get them to feel and know in their bones that "a person's a person no matter how small." Frequently pray for "all the babies in their mother's wombs, that they may be born and learn to know Jesus." Instill that instinct to protect.
Of course, sometimes children get exposed to the harsh reality of abortion before you would choose to do so yourself, and then you pretty much have to deal with it then and there whether they are ready or not. I was fortunate with my first son to get to choose the age at which I would explain it, and really I wasn't willing to do that until he was ten or so. I chose to do it as part of American history in our homeschool. I wanted it in the same context as other groups in American history who have, at times, not enjoyed the full protection of the law. Partly that is because I wanted him to have hope that, with the help of activists (like himself!) the unborn will someday be treated as people under our laws. Also because he's the sort of boy who's very interested in the idea of things being "fair." It was just shocking to him — at an appropriate level for his age, as it should shock us all — to discover that the most vulnerable among us are the most unprotected.
I wish I had known about this protest I would have gone too! Sadly my dear, you and I have a mutual friend whose husband was supposed to work on that building. Thankfully he found out the night before and told his boss he could not work there. It caused tension at his company, that's for sure.
I think Simcha Fisher had a post recently where the Bishop of Fargo set up perpetual adoration right next door an abortion clinic. Perhaps something like this could be done in St. Paul.
Margaret, do you know if more events like this will be taking place?
And all of the comments to Jenn's question have been helpful. (I feel similar; it has been hard for me to talk about abortion with my children. My oldest only knows a very basic definition, not anything specific.) But what is a good age-range for approaching the topic with children? Age of reason? Or earlier? Or when they ask, if that's sooner?
Thanks ladies for answering my question. I have to say I'm still on the fence. My 10yo daughter is very sensitive and I can't imagine having that conversation with her. I've told her that some of our elected officials don't prioritize taking care of pregnant mothers and their unborn children, but that the mother would choose to kill her own child?
Just can't do it.
Margaret, thank you.
How can people luxuriate so in abortion? I can understand the frightened, confused, agonised mothers themselves – but the providers? I will never understand them. I only hope I can remember, every time I think of them, to turn my hatred into loving prayer.
Jenn, I found telling my dd about abortion to be easy. I said maybe a sentence or two, the very basics, and she immediately understood and expressed her opinion on the matter. I never had to give her my opinion on the subject, or try to teach her or convince her against abortion. I think most innocent children would consider abortion wrong and horrible.
My dd still doesn't know the horrific details, and won't until she is much older – why poison her mind in that way?, especially when the basics are enough to stir profound feeling? – but I felt it was important not so much that she knew for the sake of knowing, but so that one more soul in this world could be praying against the horror of it. (Which is alot of talk about praying from someone who isn't Catholic, lol!) Or even if she wasn't praying, just *emanating* the desire for abortion to end. I kind of felt if I didn't tell her about it, and ensured her response was the appropriate one, then somehow she would be tainted by the fact of abortion and her ignorance of it. I know that doesn't make sense. Perhaps to say, it would become a dirty secret. It was people not talking about Auschwitz, and raising their children to not question horrible things, that enabled so much killing to go on for years.
Btw Jenn, my dd is very sensitive too. That is why I kept the conversation to the bare minimum. And why I talked with as much love and compassion I could about the mothers and why they would make such a terrible, difficult decision, and how it would be great if there could be more support for them so they didn't need to make it. I wanted the discussion to come first with me rather than with tv or other kids or – worse – the parents of her friends.
I had no idea this was happening. What a terrible world we live in.
Kalley got married around the time I did and I have a picture of her, (pre kids) because I liked her hair (short at the time)!
She's beautiful.
So are you.
This was a great post.
Those balloons were so powerful
Good for you Margaret!!
it is incredibly hard to talk to children about abortion and I hold it off as long as I can but usually around 8-10 discussion about it is inevitable, if for no other reason than they hear about it during sermons at Mass.
I'm interviewing for a position with Catholic Charities next week. I'm hoping to join a team of women who provide education and support to pregnant women in need, prenatally, during birth and postpartum. Most of the women are teens and/or homeless.
I pray I get it. Will I not only get to do what I love I'll get to really put my money where my mouth is. Not just saying "I'm pro-life" but getting down there, in the trenches and helping those girls and women who did choose life when society tells them they shouldn't have.
Well, after Mass & piano lessons & soccer & baseball, I’m back. Phew! Busy day.
Jenn, my children have known about abortion for as long as I can remember. It is much more stressful for me to tell them the facts of life than it is to discuss abortion; why is that, I wondered?
I came up with three major reasons and here they are:
One, when we go to the polls we are single-issue voters. Abortion is always a topic at the dinner table in November, especially when there is a presidential candidate who is Pro-Choice and we have to discuss why we don’t support him.
Two, we say Bishop Fulton Sheen’s prayer for the unborn after every decade of the rosary. You’ve heard it, probably: “Jesus, Mary & Joseph, I love you very much. I beg you to spare the life of the unborn child, whom I have spiritually adopted and who is in danger of abortion.” Again, it is a word they’re hearing every day.
(Or every day we pray the rosary, anyway. 🙂
Finally, we go to protests. I am not particularly in favor of the graphic poster campaigns, but we do attend the vigil on Good Friday and I cry to see the people on the other side. We pray and the kids know why they’re praying. Whether or not they really get it…
Well, actually I think they do. In the van tonight, I asked 6-year-old Angela if she knew what abortion was. She did know. I asked her what she thought of it and she said, “It’s bad! Horrible! Cruel!”
She was silent for a moment, then added, “Very cruel.”
It really comes down to what your children are ready for. Mine are not that sensitive—Are you kidding? Angela? Sensitive?—but if they were, I would have to rethink my approach. Clearly that’s what you’re doing and I would prayerfully continue to discern the best time to tell them.
Though, as it is with the facts of life, I would hate for them to learn about it from someone else.
To Anonymous,
In Robbinsdale, MN there is an adoration chapel (in a former house) next to an abortion "clinic." Traffic at the "clinic" has decreased substantially. My parish is very close to Robbinsdale. Four times a year the homeschoolers at my parish have a Mass in the chapel.
I pray for their conversion!!! Look what happened to Abby Johnson,,,miracles DO happen!! I see the police are there. but to protect whom and who's rights eh?
Very powerful post MN mom…..
Interesting Margaret. My sister also mentioned that her children hear the word during homilies. Honestly, ours do not. I wonder why that is. I can't think of any homily where it was discussed in frank terms. Our priests tend to speak vaguely about such things.
We are also single issue voters, but as I said, I can be pretty vague myself.
P.S.
Father Benedict Groeschel from EWTN had on his sunday night show "Sunday night Prime" Lila Rose who with another prolifer went into a PP clinic and caught on tape the conversation between her and the PP worker assuring her that she could get an abortion even thou she was underage and her "boyfriend" was over 30! this hit the internet around the same time as "Unplanned" by Abby Johnson.
excellant show, with statistics. Ms Rose may look and sound very much like a teenager but she is one very articulate smart woman!!
http://www.ewtn.com/tv/live/sundaynightlive.asp
Heartbreaking. And yet hopeful too to see that its not happening without a protest, that people are not being silent.
Also, I hope this doesn't seem too flippant and out of place but that's a super cute picture of Erin. I recognized her without the caption.
Jenn, I say follow your heart and don't let anyone pressure you into having a conversation you and your daughter aren't ready for yet. One thing we do is add a prayer for an end to abortion to our nightly family prayers. That way we aren't ignoring it or sweeping it under the carpet. The cards are on the table and perhaps one day a curious child will ask what that word means. Then I'll have to figure out what, how much to tell her. Right now that's my solution. I'm sort of hoping that the question will come when she's ready and I am too.
Thank you for posting this!
May God continue to bless you!
Katie
Blech. I had no idea this was happening so close to home. Thank you for sharing this – I'd heard peeps about what was going on in St. Paul but no idea that it was this substantial.