NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE ‘W as it alive?”
Dr. William Yates was in his medical residency. He had just finished an abortion. The woman having the abortion was accompanied by her sister, who was outside the surgery room and wanted details. Saying “no” wasn’t possible. But by saying “yes” the doctor would be admitting he did harm — once something doctors took an oath not to do.
That was the last time Dr. Yates performed an abortion.
He’s since gone to God. But the legacy that he and his wife, Margaret, a nurse, have left could transform our ailing culture.
Three decades ago, the Sisters of Life were founded in New York so that any pregnant woman or mother in need could go to the Catholic Church and have someone to embrace her and walk with her. Cardinal John O’Connor at the time put out a help-wanted ad after realizing during a visit to Dachau that “Never again” wasn’t true. There are good people with good intentions who work at Planned Parenthood. But it was founded so that fewer black and brown babies would be born. That eugenics mentality is what happens in practice. New York City abortion numbers reflect that. And anyone who has spent any time outside their flagship clinic in Lower Manhattan has seen it.
One of the women who answered Cardinal O’Connor’s ad was a psychology professor at Columbia who would become known as Mother Mary Agnes Donovan. For nearly three decades she has led the community with grace. Among the women whose vows she has received are Mother Mary Concepta and Sister Mariae Agnus Dei, daughters of William and Meg Yates. And Mother Mary Concepta has taken the reins as their second superior general. The two sisters grew up picking up pregnant mothers in the morning for school. They were two of seven children, and their mom told the guidance counselor at the local high school that their family would walk with any young girl who needed help.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis can argue about abortion forever. But the most important thing is what we are doing in our lives. The Yates family would babysit and help arrange appointments and help with material needs. They would accompany women so they knew they were not alone.
If you read my columns, you know I am opposed to abortion. But do women know that people who are opposed to abortion actually do care about women? I sometimes fear we are the last people pregnant women would come to.
The Sisters of Life dedicate their lives to God, of course, and to loving on moms. They are religious sisters who give up marriage and family for themselves, but in practicality they have so many daughters and sons. They make themselves available for love for families who may not know love without them. So many of the women who are a part of their extended family have never had birthday parties celebrated in their honor. Birthday parties are a big deal for the Sisters of Life. (I’ve been a happy recipient.) If we don’t celebrate life, how can we ever know it’s value? Even a doctor in training may not have realized that, yes, the developing child in the abortion is even a life.
In reflecting on how she arrived at the Sisters of Life, Mother Mary Concepta remembered a mom who called her mother to thank her for helping her get her high-school diploma. She had a job at a bank because of it. Mrs. Yates was in tears. Her daughter wrote years later: “Her witness taught me that life is a sacred gift, and no matter what the circumstances and struggle, by standing with mother and baby, love always triumphs!”
Mother Mary Concepta’s Sister of Life sister wrote about the last hours of their father’s life. “I wondered if I had the courage to stay with Dad in this final stretch and love him through to the finish line. My heart was broken in that moment by two great loves — the love of a daughter for her father that wanted to hold on to the gift, and conversely, a love desiring to reverence God the Father calling His son home.”
Sister Agnus Dei prayed and then heard another sibling encouraging him. “We are all here now, Dad. You can go. The Father is waiting for you.”
She remembered: “And as soon as it began, it was over. He breathed his last. He made it. Peace flooded the room.”
She didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the Feast of the Holy Innocents. As a doctor, their father had had a conversion in realizing how he needed to protect life in the face of confusion about its value. And two of his daughters had committed to a still embryonic community that insists that women deserve better than pressure to abort. They deserve love. And they are capable of heroic love.
Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, Mother Mary Concepta, and all of the more than 100 Sisters of Life are witnesses to a love that our debates about abortion don’t often capture. And they are a challenge, too. However we vote, we need to ask basic questions. Do we have room for a young woman who doesn’t have one? Would we pick up a girl in the morning so she doesn’t have to drop out of high school?
Mother Mary Concepta in her new role will help show us deeper love at a time when we so need to know there is more than debating how many weeks to restrict abortions. She was raised in such love. Her family nourished life. And the Sisters of Life show us how live it.
(The Sisters of Life quarterly is available for free — details at sistersoflife.org.)
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.