A group of clergy joined together to “bless” and declare “holy” a new abortion clinic that performs third trimester abortions and is run by notorious abortionist LeRoy Carhart.
“God of grace and God of glory, in whom we move and live,” said Baptist minister Carlton Veazey, beginning a prayer for abortionists and other staff and their patients, reports the Washington Post.
“Keep them safe and keep them strong,” he continued. “And may they always know that all that they do is for Thy glory.”
Veazey gathered with a Jewish rabbi and three other pastors from denominations recognized as Christian at the abortion clinic in Bethesda, Maryland, where Carhart performs abortions – well into the third trimester of pregnancy – that are banned in many states.
Cari Jackson, a minister in the United Church of Christ who has also served United Methodist and Presbyterian Church USA congregations, joined the other clergy in sprinkling water in each room of Carhart’s clinic and the parking area.
“We give honor to all of these women who choose to come to this space,” Jackson said. “We sanctify this space, and we honor this as holy.”
Rabbi Charles Feinberg said Jewish rabbinic authorities have always said a fetus is not a person.
“Judaism has always said abortion is never murder,” he told the Post. “It may not be permitted, depending on the circumstances — how far along the pregnancy is, how seriously ill the mother-to-be is — but it is never murder. It only becomes that once the baby is born.”
In 2013, pro-life organization Live Action conducted an undercover investigation into Carhart’s clinic in Nebraska. In the video, Carhart refers to the unborn baby as “meat in a Crock-Pot,” and then jokes about his abortion toolkit that includes a “pickaxe” and a “drill bit.”
That same year, Maryland Montgomery County police closed an investigation into the death of 29-year-old Jennifer Morbelli, Carhart’s patient, without filing criminal charges against him, though her official death certificate confirms that she died from complications due to a 33-week abortion performed by Carhart.
Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino discusses third trimester abortion in a medical animation video provided by Live Action:
Levatino says that in the third trimester of pregnancy, the baby is almost fully developed and able to survive outside the womb. The abortionist will usually first kill the baby in utero by injecting a substance that causes cardiac arrest, and induces the mother’s labor to deliver her baby stillborn.
Carhart told the Post he believes in God “very strongly,” and that he is practicing his faith by helping women through a difficult time.
“I think in itself, that’s religious,” he said.
Though many abortion lobby groups and their supporting politicians and media claim most late-term abortions are performed due to the mother’s health complications or fetal anomalies, a study, published at the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute’s Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, compared reasons women give for delaying abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy versus late-term. The researchers concluded that both groups of women have similar characteristics.
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, writing at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), summarized the findings:
For many years, abortion-rights advocates have asserted that abortions after 20 weeks are performed because of maternal health complications or lethal fetal anomalies discovered late in pregnancy.
However, wider data from both the medical literature and late-term abortion providers indicates that most late-term procedures are not performed for these reasons.
Previous survey studies of late-term abortion patients have confirmed that most late-term abortions are performed because of a delay in pregnancy diagnosis and for reasons similar to those given by first-trimester abortion patients: financial stressors, relationship problems, education concerns or parenting challenges.
Pro-life organization Operation Rescue reported on the opening of Carhart’s new clinic in October:
Carhart was forced to relocate after the Maryland Coalition for Life bought and closed Germantown Reproductive Health Services in Germantown, Maryland, where he previously worked as an independent contractor.
During the nearly seven years Carhart conducted late-term abortions in Germantown, at least ten women were rushed to hospital emergency rooms by ambulance suffering from life-threatening complications to the risky abortion procedures. At one woman, Jennifer Morbelli, died from complications to a 33-week abortion.
Carhart has no admitting privileges at any hospital, and hasn’t since 1982.
Cheryl Sullenger of pro-life organization Operation Rescue tweeted her response to the “blessing” of Carhart’s new clinic:
President Donald Trump called for the Senate to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection bill, a measure that would have banned abortion in the United States past the fifth month of pregnancy.
Despite the fact that a recent Marist poll released earlier this month found 76 percent of Americans—including 92 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of independents, and 61 percent of Democrats—would restrict abortion to, at most, the first trimester of pregnancy, most Senate Democrats and two Republicans sided with the abortion industry and voted against the measure.
“It is disappointing that despite support from a bipartisan majority of U.S. Senators, this bill was blocked from further consideration,” Trump said. “The vote by the Senate rejects scientific fact and puts the United States out of the mainstream in the family of nations, in which only 7 out of 198 nations, including China and North Korea, allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.”
“We must defend those who cannot defend themselves,” Trump added. “I urge the Senate to reconsider its decision and pass legislation that will celebrate, cherish, and protect life.”