Pro-Life Groups Should Provide Burial and Cremation Options for Both Miscarried and Aborted Babies
Source: Chaney Gooley. "Why Pro-Lifers Should Help Bury The Babies They Can't Save." August 19, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that pro-life churches and pregnancy centers should start offering burial and cremation services for babies lost through miscarriage and abortion, since many grieving women currently have no better option than flushing the remains. She believes that honoring these babies with proper burial will help women heal, reinforce the idea that unborn babies are fully human, and might even help prevent future abortions.
Conclusion
Pro-life churches and pregnancy centers should expand their services to include burial and cremation resources for babies lost to miscarriage and abortion, rather than leaving grieving women to flush remains out of confusion or lack of options.
Premises
- Many women experiencing miscarriage or home chemical abortion currently flush their baby's remains because they are unaware of alternative options.
- Women who flush remains often report this as the most traumatizing aspect of their loss, leading to stunted or complicated grief.
- Burial or cremation can provide closure and emotional healing for grieving mothers, regardless of whether the loss was miscarriage or abortion.
- The unborn child's value and dignity do not depend on the circumstances of the loss (miscarriage vs. abortion), just as a person's worth doesn't depend on circumstances of conception.
- Offering burial after abortion may help prevent repeat abortions by making the mother aware of the child's humanity and connecting her to after-abortion healing resources.
- Existing models (Heaven's Gain Ministries, Abiding Care pregnancy center, Catholic cemeteries, church partnerships) demonstrate that this service is feasible, low-cost, and already succeeding in some communities.
- This is currently an underdeveloped area within pro-life movement infrastructure, representing an unmet need and missed opportunity.
Assumptions
- The unborn, from very early gestation, possess a status equivalent to a fully valuable human life deserving of dignified burial.
- Confronting the physical reality of the unborn child's remains will, for most women, produce healing and moral clarity rather than additional trauma or despair.
- Recognizing miscarriage as a legitimate loss of human life will generalize culturally to strengthen anti-abortion sentiment.
- Churches and pregnancy centers have the capacity, funding, and specialized training necessary to responsibly manage sensitive practices like death certificates, burial-transit permits, and remains handling.
- Providing this option will not inadvertently normalize or reduce moral seriousness around abortion by treating it primarily as a grief-management issue rather than an ethical one.