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      CHICAGO (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said he was surprised at the reaction of local media after his participation in a peaceful prayer service at an abortion clinic this month.

      "The Church always accompanies the dying with prayer," said the Cardinal, writing in the archdiocesan newspaper The New World. In his article, the archbishop explained that such a service was a "normal pastoral response." He added, "People die in an abortion clinic, and it is good to pray for them and for the living they leave behind."

      Cardinal George also pointed out the error of those who believe that artificial contraception is a solution for abortion. In the United States, he said, "contraception and abortion go hand in hand."

      "In a culture that believes unwanted children should not be conceived in the first place and have no right to life if they are conceived," said the archbishop, "abortion is necessary as a back up when contraception fails, as it inevitably does at some time."

      "I was there because it must be said again and again that our society cannot indefinitely sustain the playing off of a mother's freedom against the death of her child," he concluded.

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