—Fr. Dmitry, in meeting with a pregnant woman who wants to have an abortion, what should a priest say so she would abandon this move?
—If she came to a priest, we should understand that she doesn’t want to do it, even if unconsciously. And this chord is why she called upon the Church, and we must find it in her soul.
In such situations, I say: “Why do you want to kill your baby? Give him to me. I’ll raise him and feed him. And moreover, I’ll take him at any moment, as soon as you say ‘I’ll give him to you.’ Just don’t kill him.”
I have just one rule:
You’ll give birth, but don’t tell anyone you’re giving it up. You breastfeed him in the hospital, and then we’ll quietly come for you in a car and take your child. Here’s my telephone number. If you change your mind we’ll bring him back, even to Vladivostok if you go there, so you won’t waste a ticket. If I deceive you, you can always “narc” on me: “This priest messed with my head. Here’s his number and address.”
You don’t need anything. I’ll give you money so you can rebound!
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| Fr. Dmitry Smirnov |
So explain to me: why kill your baby? What’s the point here? You will have a sin on your conscience. You don’t know how old women (who had abortions in their youth) come and weep. Stand here, wait, here comes one now. I’ll call you over—you listen to what she says, how she suffers now. And you’ll be suffering your whole life. But here you’ll have a clean conscience. They used to bring them and throw them into monasteries, giving them over to be raised, or to childless women who never married. Just don’t kill your baby!
And as practice shows, once they breastfeed, they don’t call me.
CONVERSATION