A crowd gathers for a ceremony remembering more than 2,400 aborted fetuses in South Bend Wednesday, Feb. 12. Photo provided.

SOUTH BEND – Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill spoke Wednesday at a brief burial service for 2,411 aborted fetuses found last year on the property of the late Dr. Ulrich Klopfer.

A stone memorializes the aborted fetuses. Photo provided.

The remains were interred at Southlawn Cemetery in South Bend, Indiana. They are associated with abortions Dr. Klopfer performed in Indiana clinics in Fort Wayne, Gary and South Bend. 

“We have identified a burial site with the purpose to memorialize these 2,411 unborn, keeping them together in rest, each of them connected by their common fate,” Hill said at the gravesite.

“Each of these 2,411 was a life — a life that was terminated — and each deserves to be secure in a final resting place, with dignity and respect, as should be afforded all human beings. May each of the 2,411 buried here, now and forever, rest in peace.” 

The remains were found on two separate properties owned by Dr. Klopfer, whose surviving family members have cooperated with authorities throughout the ensuing investigation. Authorities determined the remains to be from abortions performed from 2000 through 2003.

Dr. Klopfer died on Sept. 3, 2019, at the age of 79. On Sept. 12, Illinois authorities learned that family members who were going through Dr. Klopfer’s belongings found preserved fetal remains at his Illinois residence — prompting the investigation that remains ongoing. Upon learning the remains were from Indiana, Hill contacted Illinois authorities and oversaw the transportation of the aborted fetuses back to Indiana.