In recent years, the Hong An Association has received letters from benefactors to help with the burial of aborted fetuses in Vietnam. This is not one of the programs of Hong An Association, but if any benefactor wants to help, then the Hong An Association will act as a mediator to transfer money to the religious communities that specialize in this mission. The Hong An Association has sent donations to the Sisters of the Lovers of Holy Cross of Hue, the Brothers of St. John of God, the Franciscans and most recently, the Dominican Sisters of Bac Ninh.
Sister Ly Nguyen, OP, of Bac Ninh Diocese, is also a very involved collaborator with the Hong An Rice program and other programs that improve the lives of those in need. Here is her briefing:
Dear Sister, I have been the Head Director of Protecting the Dignity of Life Program (abbreviated BVSS) of Bac Ninh Diocese for more than 10 years. Currently, I have 11 groups of 268 members actively working for “BVSS”.
THE WORK OF THE GROUP IS
1. Publicity to prevent abortion
- 2. Counseling women with problem pregnancies, or nursing, or taking care of a newborn.
- 3. Burial of aborted fetuses.
- 4. Accompanying the Dominican Sisters of Bac Ninh to transport pregnant women on this program to safe delivery of their babies.
It is very painful to look at and bury the aborted fetuses.
For more than ten years on this mission, I have experienced these cruel and atrocious crimes. I added these numbers to the terrible acts I witnessed.
The number of fetuses aborted in the first 6 months of 2018 was 34,700. The fetuses were buried by the members in the 11 groups of BVSS. Only 52 babies were able to survive. But the diocesan Bishop has always said that saving one life is a miracle. We thank the Lord for the compassionate benefactors’ concern about this special mission. I am sending some pictures of the activities from the Diocese and our Sisters.
Working to protect lives:
The purpose is to find and advise pregnant women to keep their babies and provide a safe home. These are pictures of the babies that were saved by the volunteers. They counseled these pregnant women and took them to a place where they could live instead of aborting their child. After these mothers give birth, the Sisters must find ways to help the mother and child. But this is not a simple mission; there are many complications. While saving lives and helping the young mothers is a wonderful feeling for the volunteers, most of society looks down on this. It is difficult to get enough support for milk, medicine, and diapers.
Burying the aborted fetuses:
The burial of the fetus is the last step of protecting the dignity of life. But it is very emotional for everyone to attend the burial service of these fetuses. It is very painful and heart-wrenching.
There are some fetuses that are mature and large, making it difficult for them to leave the womb. Therefore, the doctors have to cut them up into pieces to remove them. We collect the fetuses and their parts from the hospital waste bins, take them home to graft the parts together, wrap them in a cloth, and keep them in the freezer until burial.
Currently, the Diocese of Bac-Ninh has 14 facilities in many areas, which is convenient for the volunteers to bring the bodies there to freeze. The largest area has about 1,000 fetuses a month and the smallest has about 100 fetuses a month.
The volunteers have to face many difficulties. It is not easy to bring the survivors to their homes or to bury the ones that did not have a chance to live. For all these years, everyone has been working silently with God. It was just in 2019 when we received sympathy and support from people who helped build tombs for the unborn fetuses. But the babies who survive still do not have anyone to care for them.
That is the brief information about the aborted fetuses and the ones who survive.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
