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Cumberland Monument For Unborn Unveiled

Cumberland pro-lifers held an unveiling ceremony October 2 for a long-awaited monument commemorating the 40 million unborn babies killed by abortion since Roe v. Wade.

The 7½-foot-high granite monument, erected by the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization, was unveiled by CHCO President Edward Taylor, Jr., and Defend Life Director Jack Ames.

The memorial was erected at Davis Memorial Cemetery on a lot donated by the cemetery owners, Davis Memorial United Methodist Church, after a decade-long battle to find a home for it.

Cumberland’s three Catholic churches had refused to permit the memorial in their respective cemeteries.

“We’re very pleased that the good people of Davis Memorial United Methodist Church understand the great need for this monument,” Mr. Taylor, a Catholic, said.  

“When it comes to pro-life up here, the Protestants have it cornered!”

Rev. Dan Wright, the church’s pastor, offered the opening and closing prayers and gave the main talk.

Other speakers included Taylor; Ames; Fr. Paul Yuenger, pastor of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Ridgeley, W. Va. (Taylor’s parish); Virginia Clise, director of First Way Crisis Pregnancy Center in La Vale; and Kelly Taylor, president of Allegany County Right to Life.

Engraved on the monument panels are a history of abortion and the reasons for erecting the monument, images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a prayer for the children killed by abortion.

A marble cherub crowns the monument.

For more information on the memorial and the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization, see their website, www.chco-online.org.