Day of Remembrance for Unborn Children scheduled for Sept. 18

Sts. Anne and Joachim Respect Life Committee will be sponsoring the 9th Annual National Day of Remembrance Prayer Service for Unborn Children on Sept. 18 at 11 a.m. at the gravesite memorial at Holy Cross Cemetery North, Fargo. Father Scott Karnik, parochial vicar of Sts. Anne and Joachim Church will lead the service. The memorial prayer service will be held under an open tent with chairs. All are invited to attend. St. James Basilica in Jamestown will be holding a memorial service on Sept. 18 at 11 a.m. as well at Calvary Cemetery in Jamestown.

In the fall of 1985, the Fargo Pro-Life Community erected a Monument to the Unborn as a part of a growing trend across our nation to memorialize babies who have died by abortion. The monument, located at Holy Cross Cemetery North, was dedicated at the opening of the 1985 North Dakota Right to Life Convention.

Three years later, on Oct. 2, 1988, 100 babies killed by abortion at the Fargo Women’s Health Organization were laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery North. These babies were some of hundreds found in a dumpster located outside of the Vital Medical Laboratory in Northbrook, Ill. and returned to the cities where they had been aborted. The remaining babies were buried at a memorial gravesite at Jamestown Calvary Cemetery in Jamestown. 

The front of the large granite memorial at Holy Cross Cemetery North commemorates the babies and offers hope and healing to women who regret their abortions. The front reads, “Baby, Died by Abortion, Commemorating the War on the Unborn.” The backside has a quote from Romans 5, “But God proves His own love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” At the base, it says, “Our Little Ones to Him Belong.”

Terry Melby, a member of the Post Abortion Ladies (PALS) group that tell their testimonies and speak about the effects of abortion, designed the back of the monument specifically for women who regret their abortions and need healing.

“One hundred precious children are buried here, precious little ones, created by a loving God, in his own image,” she said. “We mourn for them, for their mothers and fathers who know the inconsolable grief of empty arms and irreversible decisions. We mourn for the families who are living without them. They would be 33 years old now. Many would have children of their own. We mourn for those missing from our communities. These 100 babies in their own small way, represent the 64 million children who are missing from homes and communities across our country. May we be encouraged to pray and keep on doing whatever job God have given us to do as we keep on fighting to protect unborn children.”

The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children began in September of 2013 by Citizens for a Pro-life Society, Priests for Life, and the Pro-Life Action League. Almost 200 Memorial Services were held in 2020 at memorial and burial sites throughout the United States. A listing of states with memorials and gravesites for the unborn can be found at abortionmemorials.com.