Though she didn’t necessarily grow up "pro-life," Laura Karlen sprang into action when a co-worker facing an unexpected pregnancy announced she was planning to have an abortion. 

Karlen told Live Action News, “My husband and I decided we wanted to change her heart and offered to help her out financially. We thought our efforts were working until one night she stood us up for dinner. She later called us and tearfully told us she had the abortion.”

Karlen was expecting her first child at the time.

The woman eventually transferred to another office, but the blinders had fallen off Karlen’s eyes. She and her husband got involved with their local 40 Days for Life campaign.

“The pro-life cause became very dear to us,” Karlen said. “We even brought our baby son to the events. We were on fire for life.”

Miracles and miscarriages

For Karlen, having a baby was truly a miracle. She had been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome and was told she wouldn’t be able to get pregnant.

Karlen reflected, “After having our son, I truly believed we’d have more children.”

While she got pregnant with another child, she woke up bleeding heavily early into the pregnancy.

“I was shocked to discover I was having a miscarriage,” Karlen said. “I was devastated. Fortunately, I was connected to a caring pro-life community that helped me get through such a challenging time.”

A funeral was arranged and a burial plot identified so the couple’s second child could have a final resting place.

Karlen noted, “At first, my in-laws said they couldn’t attend the funeral because they had to work but then decided to come. I think the funeral of their grandchild helped them face their own grief from the loss of a child before my husband was born.”

READ: Media bullies Jessa Duggar Seewald, claiming post-miscarriage D&C was an ‘abortion’

Memorial garden

Two priests in the community collaborated to create a miscarriage memorial, “The Miracle of Life Rosary Garden,” to give parents the dignity of burying their babies.

When Karlen suffered a second miscarriage, she was urged to have a dilation and curettage (D&C) but she chose to wait until her body naturally expelled her child's remains.

She said, “I carried around a container everywhere I went until the miscarriage finally occurred a month later. I was then able to recover the remains of my baby and bury my child in the memorial garden.”

People generously made tiny caskets for these miscarried babies which helped ease the sorrow knowing every child’s life was worthy of a respectful burial, even those who never took a breath outside the womb.

“When I heard of couples suffering due to miscarriage loss, I prayed for them,” Karlen said. “I know the Lord had more to do regarding this issue.”

Karlen’s husband had received burial vessels from Heaven’s Gain, and as she drove to a friend’s home to give her the vessel, she felt the Holy Spirit convicting her to do something more systematic.

An idea began to form that would allow her to administer to families who have lost babies from miscarriages.

St. Catherine Ministry is formed 

In 2022, Karlen met with her bishop to get his blessing to offer free miscarriage kits and burial vessels to women in the diocese who experienced miscarriages. Thus, the foundation of Karlen’s charter, St. Catherine Ministry, was formed.

“So we partnered with a Catholic doctor who practiced at Our Lady of Hope clinic," she said. "He was dealing with women having miscarriages and we wanted to offer these free miscarriage kits and burial vessels to them.”

Karlen explained that women experiencing miscarriages often do not have the means to capture their babies' remains; by providing the miscarriage kits and burial vessels, it relieves them of the burden of figuring out how to do so. 

“This ministry is a huge opportunity to witness and to educate others on the devastation families go through when losing a child to miscarriage,” Karlen noted. “Essentially, this ministry grew out of my pro-life convictions.”

The St. Catherine Ministry supplies the miscarriage kits and burial vessels, along with demonstrating how to use the kits and showing women where to bury their babies’ remains. It also provides emotional support groups in partnership with Red Bird Ministries, which offers many online resources, particularly for areas across the country that don’t have local miscarriage support groups.

Karen said:

“Experiencing two miscarriages myself gave me the understanding and compassion for women who are undergoing the same challenges I experienced. I want to help them deal with the physical and emotional trauma of pregnancy loss and I want them to know the Lord is always with them, especially during times like this.”

Whenever Karlen receives a call or an online form from a woman experiencing a miscarriage, she prays with and encourages her, while explaining what the miscarriage process might look and feel like.

“I tell them when to seek medical attention but also caution that she might not necessarily need to be forced to expedite a miscarriage by taking misoprostol or by having a D&C,” Karlen said. “Most women want someone to acknowledge their loss, a simple ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I’m praying for you,’ is appreciated.”

Miscarriage and abortion are not the same

When a woman loses her child to miscarriage, Karlen gives her a precious gift with the baby’s name engraved on it which can be hung on the wall as a remembrance.

“I’ve created different gifts because one woman may have multiple miscarriages and I want to give her a remembrance for every child she has lost,” she explained.

Karlen added that, often, the terms “abortion” and “miscarriage” are intertwined — yet the two are vastly different.

“I testified before the legislative committee at the state capital in an effort to stop conflating miscarriage with abortion,” she said. “It’s extraordinarily hurtful to a woman when doctors say she had a spontaneous abortion.”

She feels that women are being deceived and manipulated by a pro-abortion culture that seeks to normalize abortion by likening miscarriages as the same.

Karlen said, “This ministry is a way to fight against abortion by illustrating the personhood of the baby in the womb and highlighting the trauma families experience when losing a child to miscarriage.”