September 15, 2026

Service held to remember children lost to abortion

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

Members of Pro-Life of Pioneer Valley gathered at Calvary Cemetery in Chicopee on Saturday, Sept. 12 for the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. Pastor Christina Desjardins (left center) of Lighthouse Christian Church in Feeding Hills, shared her testimony.

CHICOPEE – An ecumenical service was held for the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children at Calvary Cemetery, Saturday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. Pro-Life of Pioneer Valley organizes the event each year. Deacon Pedro Rivera of St. Mary Parish in Westfield was the presider for the memorial service. Pastor Christina Desjardins, of Lighthouse Christian Church in Feeding Hills, shared her testimony.

“I am so thankful that they have organized this event to bring awareness to men and women who have walked through the throes of abortion and also to honor the unborn and to honor those babies that were lost to that choice,” said Desjardins who shared her story of a past abortion during the service.

Desjardins said when she found out she was pregnant, she was scared. She went to Planned Parenthood, where she was prescribed the abortion pill. She said she asked three times about the development of the baby and was told her pregnancy was just tissue. She eventually told her mother, who prayed over her with other women at a retreat. Desjardins went back some time later to get her medical records from the abortion clinic and discovered when she had her abortion, she was 7 weeks pregnant with twins.

Desjardins now volunteers at Clearway Clinic in Springfield, helping with their post abortive ministry.

“My prayer is this would be a time of hope and healing. When Christ came, he paid for 100 percent freedom. It wasn’t that he came for all of the sins except abortion. He paid for all of it. For women and men, because men are part of this as well, to know that they can walk in the truth, receive forgiveness and walk in the freedom that Christ paid for is important,” she said.

Similar memorial services were held in 225 communities across the country.

“We are remembering the lives of unborn children. There are a lot of things we do in the pro-life movement. Today is less about doing and more about taking a moment to remember lives that have been lost, the hearts broken, the hearts of women who have been seduced into abortion, the hearts of men who have had their children ripped apart by abortion. So, this is intended to be a commemoration and a healing event,” said Gabriel Greenspan, the president of Pro-Life of Pioneer Valley.

Pastor Isaiah Delmoral of New Wine Church in Springfield, gave the final blessing.

To learn more about the pro-life ministry in the Diocese of Springfield, go to diospringfield.org.

This story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” which temporarily airs Sunday mornings at 6:30 a.m.  on WWLP-22NEWS.