Orlando, FL, July 25, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On this past Thursday, July 21, Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, preached at a memorial service for an aborted baby girl.


The child was intact and her body was retrieved after a late-term abortion. The memorial service, organized by Operation Save America, was held outside of City Hall in Orlando.

“We are here because this baby was killed in the darkness, and we come to honor her in the bright light of day,” Fr. Pavone declared in his remarks. “The abortion industry wants to hide the violence done to these children, but we must be committed to expose it. Therefore we need to hold many more of these services, with tens of thousands of people looking at these children and recommitting themselves to end abortion.”

During the service, the name “Esther” was given to the child.

Fr. Frank invited any pro-life activists who obtain the remains of aborted children to be in contact with him to arrange for a proper wake service and burial.

It’s not the first time that aborted babies are afforded funerals.  In 2008, Detroit Bishop John Quinn offered a funeral for 18 aborted babies whose bodies were discovered in dumpsters at the Woman Care abortuary.  Later that same year, Fr. Pavone offered a funeral for three aborted babies at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament that EWTN’s Mother Angelica built in Hanceville, Alabama.  In 2010, Michigan Bishop Earl Boyea celebrated a funeral mass for 17 aborted children.

Legislation on the matter was passed in 2001 in the Czech Republic when President Vaclav Havel signed into law a bill regarding funeral arrangements which included a clause ensuring that the remains of aborted babies receive a proper burial.  In 2010, in Michigan a bill was proposed to protect the remains of aborted babies from being simply discarded as biohazardous waste.