With the busyness of school starting up again for kiddos, I want to highlight a very important upcoming date:
Saturday, September 9th
is the
National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children
For those who live near me, there will be a memorial service on Sunday, September 10th at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids, IA. The service will be sponsored by Catholic Daughters of America (CR Chapter) & Coalition for Life of Iowa.
(FYI – it is an outside event so attendees are encouraged to bring chairs and dress according to the weather.)
If you visit National Day of Remembrance, you can search memorial services as well as services that are being held at actual known gravesites of aborted babies. In Iowa, there are no known listed gravesites for these aborted little ones – and I believe the only memorial service held in Iowa is at Mt. Calvary, a Catholic Cemetery founded in the 1850’s. Mt. Calvary actually began along a wagon trail — a place of reverence where settlers buried loved ones lost along the way.
From the National Day of Remembrance website:
When people become truly aware of the reality of abortion, they can more easily cut through the lies by which some try to justify it, and the natural apathy to which human nature is inclined. Even pro-life people are thrust into a higher level of commitment and activism.
Touching this reality happens in various ways:
- hearing a vivid description of the procedure
- seeing diagrams of it or images of aborted children
- hearing a woman’s personal testimony of regret over her abortion
This impact, whereby abortion no longer remains an abstraction, can be brought to an even more profound level when experienced during an event, such as the funeral for an aborted baby.
Tens of thousands of these children have been retrieved and buried at gravesites across our country. The stories of how they were killed, how they were found, and how they were buried, along with the pictures and videos that document those events, are powerful tools to awaken the consciences of our fellow citizens.
But while a funeral and burial for an aborted baby may be a relatively rare event, the opportunity to visit the burial places and recall how those children got there does not have to be rare—in fact, it shouldn’t be.
Pro-lifers should be visiting these gravesites—and other memorial sites dedicated to aborted babies—as a regular part of their pro-life witness. That’s what the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children is all about.
Especially now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, our country must continue to mourn the millions of children killed by abortion as we work state by state to extend legal protection to children in the womb.
Visiting these gravesites and memorial markers also offers hope and healing to women who have had abortions and people who have been hurt by abortion such as fathers and grandparents who were never allowed to grieve the death of a child hurt by abortion.
The first National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children was held in September 2013 on the 25th anniversary of the solemn burial of the earthly remains of some 1,500 abortion victims in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Over 100 memorial services were held across the United States, and it was clear this should become an annual event.
The Day of Remembrance is normally held on the second Saturday in September. Dates for upcoming Days of Remembrance are as follows:
September 9, 2023
September 14, 2024
September 13, 2025
September 12, 2026
September 11, 2027
Pictures and videos from past Day of Remembrance memorial services can be found on the National Day of Remembrance Facebook page.
By participating in the National Day of Remembrance, visiting these solemn memorial places at other times of the year, and spreading the word about this prayer campaign, you are helping to humanize our aborted brothers and sisters and deepening your own commitment to ending the injustice of abortion.
Pro-lifers are also encouraged to carry on the spiritual mission of the Day of Remembrance throughout the year by visiting a gravesite of aborted children or other memorial site to offer prayers of mourning for the victims of abortion.
During your visit, you may wish to pray one of the following prayers prepared for the National Day of Remembrance:
- Prayer at a Gravesite or Memorial Site [PDF]
- Prayer of Mourning for Victims of Abortion [PDF]
- Prayer for Those who Have Lost a Child to Abortion [PDF]
In case you haven’t seen yet, Mrs. American recently delivered a wonderful pro-family statement and it needs to go viral!
Hannah Neeleman is a 33-year-old mother of seven who was crowned Mrs. American on Aug. 25 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Hannah and her husband, Daniel, run their own farm in Kamas, Utah, called “Ballerina Farms,” where they sell farm-grown meat and kitchen supplies.
Neeleman, who represented South Dakota in the pageant despite being a Utah native, has received praise across the country for her powerful pro-life response during an onstage question.
A judge asked her: “When have you felt the most empowered?”
She responded: “I have felt this feeling seven times now as I bring these sacred souls to the earth. After I hold that newborn baby in my arms, the feeling of motherhood and bringing them to the earth is the most empowering feeling I have ever felt.”
Neeleman received applause and a standing ovation from the audience in attendance.
Mrs. American 2023 Winner Gives Powerful Pro-Life Response During Pageant (Francesca Pollio Fenton/CNA .. Nation .. August 30, 2023)
