Ecuador: Pro-life groups organise burial of 36 abandoned fetuses

36 fetuses and corpses of still-born babies were buried at a church in Quito on Tuesday, in a ceremony organised by pro-life groups.

The corpses were found in public toilets, garbage dumps and other public areas, and had been kept in the National Police forensic medicine department since 2014.

The burial began with an emotional congregation in the church, where women who had had an abortion could come and grieve. Police officers then carried the little white coffins to the place of burial, where they were placed in a mass grave.

One pro-life organiser named Amparo Medina explained how the funeral was intended to help bereaved women deal with the pain of an abortion; "This is a way of saying 'here are your kids, you can come to mourn them, you can meet them here [in the cemetery]'".

Abortion is illegal in Ecuador unless the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother's health or is the result of rape of a mentally disabled woman. As a result, fetuses are left in public places such as dumpsters or in parks.