October 27, 1995

Kentucky Messenger

Father Pavone speaks at 'Celebration for Life'

Cathy Brueggemann Beil
Messenger Correspondent

The 22nd annual Celebration of Life was held Oct. 22 at the Drawbridge Hotel. The event was hosted by Northern Kentucky Right to Life and featured Father Frank A. Pavone, a nationally known prolife advocate and national director of Priests for Life, as the guest speaker.

"We are in a better position to prevail than we've ever been before," he told the gathering of nearly 800. His message was one of encouragement.

Father Pavone said legal protection must be restored for everyone, not just some of the population, and urged pro-life supporters to go forth with confidence and humility.

He warned those attending to be careful of certain terminology that undermines the unborn child. "She is expecting. They have a baby on the way. She is going to be a mother. If a woman is pregnant she is a mother, and the child exists now," he said.

Father Pavone pointed out that society asks the wrong questions. "Help people ask the right questions," he encouraged. If society asks, "Should a woman have to have a child?" the real question is, "Can't a woman kill a child?"

The same holds true with euthanasia, he said. The question posed, "Must we treat the patient?" in reality asks, "Can't we kill the patient?"

"We are as much a body as we are a soul. The mentality that it doesn't really matter what happens to the body is dangerous ground." Father Pavone says the deeper question is, "To whom do we belong?"

"Because all other issues are essentially impacted by the dignity of human life -- if we get this one wrong, we get it all wrong. Human rights and dignity are deserving of our full protection, and justice is not denominational. If pro-life doesn't win, nobody wins."

Father Pavone challenged the media wherever he goes to show the American people what abortion really is -- one of the most common surgeries practiced in America and which remains unregulated.

The abortion industry is exploiting, deceiving and harming women, Father Pavone said.

"You cannot destroy the baby without harming the mother," Father Pavone said. He explained that he has been witness to these tragedies. He said the abortion providers do their work on Saturday morning and the woman is left with her life in pieces on Saturday night. The psychological harm continues for years.

There have been many former abortion providers coming forward in recent years, said Father Pavone, with accounts of clinics where instruments are never sterilized and of women who are pressured into abortions.

Father Pavone challenges those who say they are speaking on behalf of women's rights and women's health to address these issues.

"The abortion industry and its supporters never let you forget the names of the doctors who were shot. But do they know the names on the list of women who entered their clinics to exercise their freedom of 'choice' and never came out?"

While encouraged by the positive signs in the abortion conflict, Father Pavone believes organization and discipline are essential. "There are more people in this country working full time to kill babies than there are those to save them," he said.

Volunteers are needed, as is training for those volunteers. Some people want to fight abortion in an easy way. There is no easy way, he told the crowd.

"You cannot fit the battle into your lifestyle. You must change your lifestyle to fit the battle."

Father Pavone and several others received the John Bauer Award from Robert C. Cetrulo, president NKRTL, in recognition of their dedication to the pro-life movement.

Priests for Life in the News