Four members of clergy gather on a cold January day outside the doors of a Bethesda, Maryland abortion clinic. Others have gathered as well, softly singing hymns in the background. At first sight you might assume that this is yet another in a long string of protests against the clinic's owner LeRoy Carhart. If you think this is a protest, though, you are wrong.
The four members of clergy, which included a Baptist pastor, a Church of Christ minister and a Jewish Rabbi, did not gather on January 31st to protest the actions of the clinic. They gathered instead to bless it, despite the fact that the Bethesda clinic is known as one of the few clinics in the country which will perform infamous late term abortions.
The clinic's owner, LeRoy Carhart, is famous for performing the controversial procedure, which just last week, went up for a vote in the United States Senate. The Senate voted to not ban late term abortion.
Along with the Senate's approval and the spiritual encouragement from marginal groups such as The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Carhart's new facility will continue to provide abortion services to patients as far along as thirty weeks.
The clergy members gathered to bless the clinic as they believe abortion is an expression of a "woman's moral agency," as quoted by Rev. Carlton Veazey. Veazy accompanied the other three clergy as they made their way through the clinic taking turns praying and sprinkling the clinic rooms with holy water.
He went on to say, "Keep them safe and keep them strong. And may they always know that all that they do is for Thy glory," in reference to the doctors performing these late term abortions and other staff members that work in the facility. Members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice sang hymns during the ceremony. READ MORE
