Proud Bias

Fr. Frank Pavone
Founding Director,
Priests for Life

First it was in my own state of New York, where our pro-abortion attorney general harassed crisis pregnancy centers by serving them with subpoenas, claiming he had reason to think they were violating the law by not being fully honest about the types of services they provide. The attorney general was rightly criticized by people across the nation, and the subpoenas were eventually withdrawn.

Now the circus begins again in Maryland, where abortion advocates have asked that state's attorney general to investigate the crisis pregnancy centers.

Excuse me, but something here is very wrong.

I have been privileged to visit crisis pregnancy centers in every one of the 50 states. There is no place where you can quickly meet more modern-day saints than in these centers. Christians sacrifice themselves to provide what the abortion industry consistently fails to provide: the hope that there is a solution to one's problems without killing one's own child.

While these Christians save vulnerable lives, many abortion mills nationwide lie to women about whether they are pregnant or not, how far along they are, what kind of "tissue" is growing within them, and how "safe and easy" the abortion will be. The book Lime 5 documents the atrocities occurring in legal abortion clinics, and the website www.clinicworkers.com points out the multiple crimes being committed in these facilities, including insurance fraud, money laundering, health violations, and sexual abuse. Many former abortion-clinic workers testify to the unconscionable activity occurring in these clinics.

Yet they buzz along, generally undisturbed by the authorities.

Now the abortion advocates are trying to take the moral high ground, and in between killing babies, want to go on a mission to make sure we are being "honest."

This gives new meaning to "the pot calling the kettle black."

Abortion advocates couldn't care less if we are honest or not. The simple reality is that their business is threatened by the success of pregnancy assistance centers. And when they can't argue that providing life-giving help to frightened pregnant girls is praiseworthy, they try to smear the reputation of those doing this work. It doesn't matter, of course, what the investigations find or do not find. The damage is done as soon as it is announced that an investigation is underway.

What abortion advocates also want is for us to treat abortion on an equal playing field with life. If it were a matter of saving a born child, these abortion advocates would not hesitate to do everything possible to stop the act. But the unborn? No, we are expected to try to save them as long as we don't try too hard. We are expected to present alternatives, but not to say too many bad things about the killing of the child. We can be pro-life if we want, but if the girl chooses to go to a killing center, we are expected to settle for making sure she understands that we don't do the killing.

Sorry, but that deal is off.