Fr. Pavone Presides Over Service to Name Babies Found in Philadelphia Clinic

Who are these children, and whose are these children?

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, today presided over a service to give names to the 45 babies whose bodies were found in the West Philadelphia abortion clinic of accused murderer Kermit Gosnell.

“People have names, people deserve names,” Father Pavone said during the 30-minute service in the chapel of Priests for Life headquarters. “The name expresses the person. The name recognizes that there is a person there.”

But there was no such recognition for the babies whose remains were found in milk jugs, orange juice cartons and litter boxes.

“Who are these children, and whose are these children,” Father Pavone asked. “Are they medical waste or are they our brothers and sisters?”

Father Pavone said the nearly two-month-long trial, regardless of its outcome, goes to the very core of the abortion debate.

“What was not in dispute in that courtroom is that these were living children whose hearts were stopped,” he said. “Hearts were beating, and hearts were stopped.” Four of the babies were 22 weeks’ gestation or beyond, he noted, with heartbeats that could “be heard with a simple stethoscope.”

During the service, Priests for Life staffers and volunteers walked in procession to the chapel’s altar, carrying certificates with a name for each child. The babies whose deaths have been part of the trial record, Baby A through Baby G, were named first: Baby Adam, aborted at seven and a half months; Baby Michael, killed at 28 weeks; Baby Alex, breathed for 20 minutes after delivery; Baby Chris, delivered into a toilet and seen swimming there; Baby Andy, who was heard to whine, and Baby Lou, whose leg moved after being delivered.

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Naming the Gosnell Babies

 The trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell is about much more than the man himself. In a painful way, it brings America face to face with abortion, which, as the defense argued, is "bloody" and "real."

For those who have had abortions, it brings them again in touch with a pain that is never really far away, and it brings them in touch yet again with their need for healing. This is especially true when we see what the Gosnell case has confronted us with: bodies of babies in bags and cartons in the freezer, severed feet in jars, some 45 babies retrieved in a raid on the clinic and entrusted to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner.

As Pastoral Director of the world's largest ministry for healing after abortion, Rachel's Vineyard, as well as of the largest mobilization of those who speak out about their abortions, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, I have accompanied countless mothers and fathers on their journeys of healing. And I have presided over the burials of many aborted babies.

One of the key moments of that journey of healing after abortion is when the parents name their child. The moment is powerful and freeing. Up until then, the child was a victim of de-humanization. Before we can kill, we have to dehumanize. "This is not a child,” we lie to ourselves; or we say, "This is not a child for whom I am responsible right now.” In these or a thousand other ways, a veil of dehumanization covers the child; a chasm is introduced between that child's humanity and our awareness of our need to respond to it with an unconditional acknowledgement and acceptance. But the time is not right, the burden too great, and so we keep any semblance of the child's humanity as far away from our consciousness as we can.

And that is where the power of the name comes in.

People have names. One of the first things we do when coming into the presence of another person -- or even learning about their existence when apart from their presence -- is to inquire as to their name. The name expresses the person, it invites the presence of the person, it both calls and welcomes the person, it acknowledges that there is something in common between the person and ourselves, and hence in receiving their name we offer our own.

In the case of Dr. Gosnell, we have heard of the 45 babies retrieved from the clinic. And we have read the Grand Jury Report and heard the witnesses speak of "Baby Boy A," "Baby Boy B," Baby C, D, E, F and G.

But now it's time, in our collective journey through this nightmare, to connect with these children more directly. It's time to name the children. We have no evidence that anyone else has given them a name or was interested in giving them a name. In fact, these babies were brought to an abortion facility to be killed and then thrown away. The fact that their parents abandoned them does not give us permission to do so. "Though father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me," Scripture tells us (Psalm 27:10). "I have called you by name, you are mine," the Lord says (Isaiah 43:1). As Pope John Paul II wrote, "God … has entrusted the life of every individual to his or her fellow human beings, brothers and sisters" (Evangelium Vitae, 76). From the point of view, then, that we are one human family called into being by God, these children are also ours. And that's why we can name them when nobody else has.

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Use this link to see their affirmation of life certificates