The above poster greeted us when we first walked through the former abortion clinic.  It was one of three that the former team left behind.   We assume that the above poster was on this door while the building was used as an abortion clinic. 

The poster celebrates “reproductive options” in history, all the way back to early Greek and Roman times, through Elizabethian England and into modernity.  (Including Margie Sanger and Planned Parenthood.) The poster presents a “womyn-centric” view of the world, employing a neo-marxist, female fertility lens to look back down the corridors of time.  

It is a teaching tool, a catechism if you will, destined to be posted and designed to be read.  The goal of this catechism is to teach the reader to celebrate contraception, including abortion services, as the empowerment of women. 

Which brings to mind the following quote from Mother Teresa: “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”http://www.gargaro.com/mother_teresa/quotes.html .  This teaching poster was on the door into the southeast room on the clinic’s first floor.   Christian counselors who have discussed the abortion experience at 827 Webster Street with women who were unfortunate to be served at that location tell us that this room was where the women waited to be called into one of the three “procedure” rooms.  The women have described huddling in start silence around a space heater. (The clinic’s boiler had failed and the management had resorted to electric space heaters rather than put any money into the filthy facility they ran — for profit.) 

We are pretty certain that the noise of the vacuum aspiration machines could be heard from this waiting roon, and any cries or loud sobs would have been audible as well. It was a room of despair, a hopeless suite leading to a robbed womb.  (And much money for George Ulrich Klopfer and Susan Hill.)

 No more!  The following picture, mounted on translucent material, now beams out of this room day and night!  The original was painted by the great Perugino.  This masterpiece celebrates true femininity, the women of faith and substance who look to the Christ Child for deliverance and sane, women-affirming teachings on how to live this life we have been given.    Postscript

The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Two Angels, St. Rose, and St. Catherine.

Oil on wood.

Louvre, Paris, France

Borrowing from Wikipedia and New Advent:  Pietro Perugino (1446–1524) was a well-known painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance.  He was born Pietro Vannucci in Città della Pieve, Umbria, Vannucci; his nickname characterizes him as from Perugia, the chief city of Umbria.Perugino adopted a rising tradition and made it his own by adding to it the decorative taste of his master, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and influenced by the powerful style of Piero della Francesca.He was a contemporary and peer of  Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.  The latter once told Perugino to his face that he was a bungler in art (goffo nell arte).  Perugino brought an action for defamation of character, unsuccessfully  Perugino’s most accomplished student was  Raphael. There can be no doubt that the artists mentioned in this post have given Christendom a great wealth of beauty to comtemplate. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Celebrating our first Advent, Great Christian Art at the Institute, This old clinic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.