Speaker: Abortion ruling will be reversed
By Aaron Foley - afoley@citpat.com -- 768-4944
The Jackson Citizen Patriot
Jackson, Michigan
Thursday, April 20, 2006
A national anti-abortion leader predicted
Wednesday the Supreme Court in the near future will reverse the Roe v. Wade
decision that legalized abortion.
"The glacier is moving, and moving in our
direction," said the Rev. Frank Pavone, president of the National Pro-life
Religious Council.
Pavone spoke to about 250 people at Jackson
Right to Life's annual dinner at the Country Club of Jackson, an event where he
and local anti-abortion leaders were upbeat.
Pavone said more activist groups are sprouting
up on college and high school campuses.
"Aside from political gains, we see the young
people being more and more involved in the movement," he said before the dinner.
"They have a strong awareness that they are survivors. They could have been
aborted themselves."
Members of an anti-abortion group at Lumen
Christi High School were among those in attendance.
"Every speaker has something different to
share," said Mary Berkemeier, a senior at Lumen Christi who has attended the
dinner in years past. "It's just a little reminder for all of us."
Kathy Potts, vice president of Jackson Right
to Life, said in the past year, the organization has seen a decrease in
abortions among Jackson women. No doctors in Jackson County perform abortions,
but the organization tracks the number of local residents who travel elsewhere
to have the procedure done.
"Our goals are just to reach more people in
the community with the truth of the pro-life message," Potts said. "When women
have abortions, the consequences are terrible, and no one ever tells them."
Pavone emphasized the importance of political
figures taking a stance against abortion, which he described as "the greatest
human rights struggle not only of our day, but of all time."
Several politicians, including Mayor Martin
Griffin, U.S. Senate candidate Keith Butler and Rep. Rick Baxter, listened to
him speak.
