A billboard to educate passersby about abortion and the sanctity of human life stands along Interstate 290 in Worcester, sponsored by Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Still River. The billboard shows a woman cuddling a baby. It says, “Pro-Life: The Way of Love,” and “Care you can trust!” It gives a hotline number and a website about abortion, along with the school’s website.
“We’re very excited about this,” said Sister Marie-Jean Schildknecht, of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of the Saint Benedict Center, who run the school. She is coordinator of the St. John the Baptist Pro-Life League, to which all the students in grades 8-12 belong.
“It’s our first full-fledged billboard,” and the first time the 26-year-old league has had one along a major highway, and the billboard company expects it to get 2 million views, Sister Marie-Jean said. She said students have raised money for about 10 smaller, less visible ones over the years.
This one was put up on New Year’s Eve and is to remain there this month, then be posted near Exit 12 on I-290 for another month, thanks to an anonymous donor who attends Mass at the Slaves’ chapel, Sister Marie-Jean said. She said the present space was rented by another entity for February.
Asked what she hopes the billboard will accomplish, Sister Marie-Jean said, “to save lives” of the unborn.
“You can see the love of that mother for that baby,” she said of the billboard’s picture. She said the message and picture are inspiring, even if viewers do not call the hotline shown or visit the website WhatIsAbortion.com.
“I like the 800 number; it has the word love in it,” she said of the National Life Center hotline 800-848-LOVE.
“We are the parent organization to 1st Way Life Centers through which we offer support and service” to those who suspect they may be pregnant, says the website nationallifecenter.com. “All services are free and confidential.”
The website WhatIsAbortion.com contains a video by Live Action, in which a former abortionist describes a type of abortion and her change of heart. The video “has been known to completely change people’s minds” if they were for abortion, Sister Marie-Jean said.
“People need to know how terrible the taking of an innocent human life is,” the Slaves said in an emailed newsletter for friends and benefactors of Saint Benedict Center across the country.
“Not only does it kill a baby but also destroys the life and soul of the mother. God has given everyone a conscience that will not rest after doing something so contrary to one’s human nature.
“We know that God creates a human soul at the moment of conception. There is no stage of non-human life after conception.
“As Catholics, we believe in the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. We know by faith that at the very instant she was conceived in the womb of St. Ann her soul was preserved from the stain original sin.
“We also know that the moment Our Lady agreed to be the Mother of our Savior, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man. She said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” and the ‘Word was made flesh.’”