Dayton Pro-Life Initiatives

From the Blood of Martyrs, Life Springs Forth
Dayton Pro-Life Initiatives
(from the July/August 1999 issue)

KETTERING, OHIO, a suburb of Dayton, located in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, is home to Dr. Martin Haskell’s abortion facility, the Women’s Med Center. Haskell is credited with perfecting the barbaric abortion procedure known as "partial-birth abortion"—a particularly cruel method of killing late-term, almost fully-delivered, pre-born babies. His facility, according to Dayton pro-life activists, is one of the largest partial-birth abortion mills in the country. "It is the epicenter of the culture of death," said Kettering resident George W. Riess.

Dr. Chris Kahlenborn Haskell’s presence in the Dayton-area, however, has set aglow several strong pro-life initiatives. Dr. Chris Kahlenborn, for instance, left his Pittsburgh medical practice in June of 1997 to take up residence in Kettering.

He came to the Dayton area on sabbatical primarily to organize a "Life Prayer Vigil," an effort to have at least two people praying in front of Haskell’s killing center every hour of the day and night until the abortuary is closed forever.

"Although I could have organized this type of vigil in Pittsburgh, I came specifically to Dayton, Ohio," explained Kahlenborn. "Dayton is ground zero for partial-birth abortions."

"In my view," said Kahlenborn, "there is only one solution, and that is to pray, to fast and to act on our Christian convictions. I don’t think that Martin Haskell would go into a place that was strongly Christian, because he would just be driven out by the moral force."

Kahlenborn has acted faithfully on his own convictions as a Catholic. In October of 1998, he observed a 40-day fast in front of Haskell’s clinic. Taking only juice and water during this period, he remained in prayer outside the clinic from 7:00 a.m., when he and a few others would recite Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, until 8:00 p.m. when he concluded his vigil with evening Vespers.

At present, 40 active churches are involved, and ten others are in the process of getting organized. Seventy-five to 80% of these churches are Catholic parishes.

Each parish gets a four-hour block to fill each week, a two-hour daytime block and two hours at night. Two leaders are needed at each church to coordinate the Prayer Vigil program. They are responsible for insuring that there are always at least two people from their church present at any given time during their assigned hours during the week.

Kahlenborn is pleased with the more than 500 volunteers who are now praying in front of Dr. Haskell’s center. "It’s a good start," he said, "but we need to maintain the momentum, enthusiasm and consistency over what could be a long period of time."

Grandma Vivian Vivian Skovgard, known as "Grandma Vivian," says she has noticed a definite pickup of people coming out to pray on a regular basis. Skovgard, who has been sidewalk counseling in front of the clinic almost every day for the past ten years, organized an initiative of her own.

In order to generate awareness of the partial-birth abortion procedure, Skovgard, a Kettering resident, walked 288 miles, from Cleveland to Cincinnati along U.S. Highway 42, June 11—July 2. Calling it "Grandma Vivian’s Respect Life Ohio Walk," Skovgard aimed to draw attention to the humanity of the pre-born baby during her walk, describing the late-term abortion procedure to illustrate.

"More than any other recent development in the abortion debate," she said, "it demonstrates the humanity of the pre-born baby, because the baby is pulled most of the way out of the womb in a breeched-birth position until his head lodges in the mother’s cervix. Then the abortionist actually stabs the baby in the back of the neck with a pair of scissors and, in an even more sickening and stunning maneuver, thrusts a suction catheter through the wound into the skull of the baby and sucks out the baby’s brains."

Skovgard asked people along the way to help her get the word out and "promote the respect for each individual life that at one time was at the core of this country."

Each week Grandma Vivian volunteers at the crisis pregnancy center across the street from Haskell’s abortion mill. In August of 1995, George and Joan Riess, Kettering residents and parishioners at Emmanuel Church in downtown Dayton, opened the Women’s Support Center, at the suggestion of their pastor, Father Lee L. Sciarrotta, SM.

Since 1985 the Reisses have been praying the rosary in front of Haskell’s clinic. Ten years later, with the help of Rose Bucher, they were able to open the center to provide alternatives to abortion.

"We want to support mothers," said Mr. Riess. "And we support them through the teachings of the Church—100%. And that means we counsel not only against abortion, but against contraception too."

The Women’s Support Center has been so successful over the past few years that Father Myron Effing, an American missionary priest based in the eastern Russian seaport of Vladivostok asked them to open a crisis pregnancy center there. With help from Dr. Kahlenborn and others the Reisses trained volunteers willing to work at the Vladivostok center, which opened last October.

--Michael S. Rose

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