light. Australian feminist and writer Germaine Greer, a Roman Catholic,
reported in an article written for the magazine the Independentin 1990,
another purpose behind Mother Teresa’s humanitarian mission:
When she went to Dacca two days after its liberation from the
Pakistanis in 1972, 3,000 naked women had been found in the
army bunkers. Their saris had been taken away so that they
would not hang themselves. The pregnant ones needed abor-
tions. Mother Teresa offered them no option but to bear the
offspring of hate. There is no room in Mother Teresa’s universe
for the moral priorities of others. There is no question of offer-
ing suffering women a choice.^2But Greer wasn’t done yet. She went on to write that, according to lay
workers with whom she had spoken at the time, pregnant women suffer-
ing from complications attributed to both physical abuses and malnutri-
tion—as well as women who had miscarried—were turned away from
Mother Teresa’s clinics. According to Greer, the women had been accused
by the Missionaries of Charity working at the clinics of trying to abort
their unborn children. Further, when the new Bengali government
banned the export of Bengali orphans, Mother Teresa, through some
means, was allowed to place Bengali babies with Catholic families abroad.
And, according to Greer’s sources, no one at the Family Planning Associ-
ation who knew of the incidents was allowed to say anything critical of
Mother Teresa or her actions.
THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
By the 1970s, Mother Teresa had emerged as a powerful human-interest
story for newspapers and magazines around the world. This tiny nun, barely
over five feet tall, had a number of powerful leaders and politicians as her
friends. In spite of the growing number of financial donations made to the
Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa refused to allow herself any indul-
gences that would interfere with her vow of poverty. And, though small in
stature, she clearly wielded considerable power.
One of the more interesting stories that was done on her during this pe-
riod came from Timemagazine. In December 1975, the magazine not only
devoted a long article to her, but also chose her for the cover of the mag-
azine. Mother Teresa explained that she only agreed to sit for the photog-
rapher after having prayed at mass that morning. She asked God, that for
every picture the photographer took, one soul be released from purgatory.
112 MOTHER TERESA