Pro-life advocates have responded in disgust to the actions of three progressive female clergy who held a blessing over equipment and tools used to kill pre-born babies.
A Presbyterian pastor, a Jewish cantor and a Baptist minister recently blessed the staff and objects at a Maryland abortion facility, burning incense as they walked through the white-walled clinic.
The Rev. Katey Zeh, an ordained Baptist minister and graduate of Yale Divinity School, operates the multifaith organization called the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice, which is known for conducting blessings like the one held in Maryland.
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The group has held 10 blessings at abortion facilities since 2017, The New York Times reported. During the ritual at the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, Zeh and the two other religious leaders blessed various objects, including the exam tables, disposable gowns and the chairs in the recovery room.
“You all are blessings to those who come to you for care during some of their most vulnerable and sometimes painful moments,” Zeh told the abortion facility staff gathered in the waiting room.
Contrary to the minister’s celebratory remarks, several women who underwent abortions at the facility appeared to express uncertainty about their decision.
Lying on a table in the recovery room was a notebook that contained messages from women recuperating after their abortions, the Times reported. The women reflected on their experiences and their relationship with God, with one woman writing, “God will forgive me for my decision.”
Pro-life advocates, such as CatholicVote Vice President Josh Mercer, noted that those on the political Left typically oppose religious expression, and found it ironic that leftists would use a religious ritual to justify abortion.
“Suddenly incense, ritual, prayer, and reverence all have merit. How wicked that religious practice is being hijacked to promote the killing of children,” he told The Daily Caller last week.
Pro-life advocate and speaker Obianuju Ekeocha, founder of Culture of Life Africa, a group that advocates against the promotion of abortion in African countries, also condemned the blessing of abortion facilities.
“This is the one blessing that [The New York Times] is eager to publish,” the pro-life speaker wrote in a post on X. “Satan is really at work!”
The Religious Community for Reproductive Choice did not respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment. This article will be updated if a response is received.
Some of those who attended the blessing were employees at the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, an affiliate clinic located more than three hours away from the facility in Cumberland, Maryland, according to the Times. The West Virginia facility stopped performing abortions in 2022 after the state passed restrictions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Katie Quiñonez, the executive director of the West Virginia facility, opened the Maryland abortion clinic last year. The Religious Community for Reproductive Choice conducted the blessing at the Maryland facility in response to opposition from local pro-lifers, many of whom belong to churches and other religiously affiliated groups.
As the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice states on its website, its purpose is to “reject the shame and stigma” that religious conservatives purportedly attach to “sex, sexuality and reproduction.”
“We challenge these views which have polarized the debate on reproductive issues, and offer spiritual support and solace as families and individuals make their reproductive choices,” the website’s mission statement reads.
Pro-choice activists who consider themselves people of faith have argued that abortion is a form of religious freedom and should, therefore, remain legal.
Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, activists filed lawsuits in response to their state’s abortion bans, claiming that laws against abortion prevent them from exercising their right to religious freedom.
Commenting on the lawsuits, Monica Synder, an atheist and the executive director of Secular Pro-Life, told CP at the time that one doesn’t have to be religious to oppose abortion. In response to pro-choice people who claim that outlawing or restricting abortion violates their religious freedom, the pro-life atheist presented a hypothetical.
Snyder questioned whether society would have to allow elective third-trimester abortions in the name of religious freedom if someone’s faith claimed that life doesn’t begin until the first breath.
“Historically, some societies believed neonates aren’t ‘children’ until they’re named or fed or baptized. Would we have to allow infanticide prior to those rituals in the name of religious freedom?” she asked. “No, of course not.”
“Freedom of religion is important, but it doesn’t justify human rights violations. Abortion violates human rights by killing human beings,” Snyder asserted. “Freedom of religion doesn’t justify it.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
