Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, has a message for Catholics in particular and Republicans in general this election year: don’t compromise on the murder of unborn babies in abortion, anymore than you would admit extenuating circumstances for Hamas terrorists beheading babies. Rather, spread the facts about abortion and the compassionate pro-life aid waiting for every pregnant mother, he said in exclusive comments to PJ Media.
Arguing for compromise on abortion — allowing the murder of only some babies — is just like the attempted justification of Hamas terrorists beheading and dismembering babies and children in Israel, Fr. Pavone pointed out. “You don’t start calculating how much terrorism is okay,” Pavone noted. Nor do we quibble about whether an adult’s life should be sacred in one state but up for murder in another. What Republicans really need to do, since polls show that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of at least some abortion restrictions, is improve their messaging this election year. Pavone recommended emphasizing both the left’s extremism on abortion and the compassion of conservatives who daily work to provide resources and love for pregnant mothers. “To run away from the issue is both politically unnecessary and morally unjustified,” he insisted.
Republicans who think adopting the Democrats’ position but more “moderately” is a good strategy don’t understand the abortion issue, Pavone argued. “I mean, this would be like saying…my life or yours or anybody else’s should be protected in Mississippi but not in New York, or that it should be protected up until age 65,” he told me. “People wouldn’t even think of talking in those terms, because they know that we’re speaking about something…fundamental, which is life itself. Now, how is the life of these children in the womb not life?” Science has confirmed that every human is a unique and separate living being from the moment of conception. If a candidate suggested legalizing some ax murders, we’d rightly think he was crazy. So why are the most innocent and vulnerable among us, babies, considered expendable?
Pavone urged a discussion to come to a right understanding of what’s at stake with abortion. Surgical abortion involves dismembering and/or beheading a baby in the womb, and sometimes involves crushing a baby’s head or poisoning him. Abortion pills, meanwhile, essentially starve the baby to death. Science has proven all of these methods to be brutal to the baby, and in some cases, they prove unimaginably, excruciatingly painful.
Fr. Pavone drew a parallel to a current major debate. “It’s interesting because if you look at the way that this terrorism that Hamas carried out is being dealt with, although there are really…extreme people out there who are supporting Hamas, we’ll put them to the side for the moment, most reasonable people — all the reasonable people — are saying there’s absolutely no justification for what they did,” Pavone stated. Nothing can justify burning a baby alive and cutting off his head. But what about abortion?
“We find ourselves talking about the dismemberment and decapitation of babies… When we hear that language, we who deal with the abortion issue full-time, you know, it’s like we say, we’re used to hearing that language, that’s what we’re using to describe abortion,” Pavone explained. “You don’t start calculating how much terrorism is okay.”
That’s what needs to happen with the abortion issue, too. “Everyone, again, who’s sane looks at this and says, okay, this is an absolute evil, there can be zero tolerance for this,” Pavone said. He added some advice for Republicans worried about the abortion issue in the upcoming election. “There are two aspects of the message by which we can win on this and we have won in the past. Number one, we point out the extremism of the other side, [be]cause the American people do not want unrestricted abortion, they never have wanted it. There’s never been a poll that shows majority support for unrestricted abortion, never… And these constitutional amendments, like the one that just passed in Ohio, that’s not what that reflects at all.”
He has a point. Firstly, there was a lot of confusing messaging out about the radical abortion amendment in Ohio, including from a pro-abortion “Catholic” group. Furthermore, voter turnout was significantly lower than it was in 2022 or 2020 (3.86 million in 2023, versus 4.2 million in 2022 and 5.97 million in 2020) — Republicans simply didn’t show up to vote in enough numbers. In contrast, Republican governors who signed pro-life legislation before the 2022 election all won by a bigger margin than they had previously!
Pavone continued, “The second aspect of the message is the compassion. We are the compassionate side, we are helping these moms and dads…both before they get an abortion, you know, when they feel that they have to [get one], and the ones who have done it, we’re the ones who provide the compassionate healing and help afterwards.”
So Republicans have a winning message after all. “It’s the extremism of the other side, and the compassion of our side, these are winning messages with the electorate, and to run away from the issue is both politically unnecessary and morally unjustified,” Pavone emphasized. One cannot compromise on murder to win an election, but we don’t have to do so. “We have to come alongside these candidates and — and encourage them, and that’s very much a part of the work that we do and that the whole pro-life movement needs to do,” Pavone urged.
Related: EXCLUSIVE: Frank Pavone Explains How Democrats Influence American Bishops
Check back on PJ Media for more exclusive comments from Fr. Pavone on staying faithful to Christ in a world of chaos!
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